(WKYT) – Around one in five Kentuckians were food insecure between 2022 and 2024, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
KY Policy says the data came from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Those findings show Kentucky ranked second in the nation for food insecurity and had the highest low food security rate, which means people are skipping meals all together because of finances or lack of access to affordable options.
With ongoing inflation and snap benefit cuts since then, KY Policy indicates those numbers could be climbing even higher.
“The USDA’s findings didn’t really surprise us at all because in reality, we see those families in our food line every week,” said Nicky Stacy, founder of the Hazel Green Food Project in Wolfe County.
Stacy says they feed families from 38 different counties, and over the last year, they gave away three million pounds of produce.
“The people who are living paycheck to paycheck and they are having a hard time just getting their bills paid and its not leaving any money for groceries, but on paper, they look fantastic, and so they don’t qualify for government assistance. That’s the families we are now serving,” she said.
KY Policy says nearly 83,000 Kentuckians have lost SNAP benefits after the passing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”.
Stacy adds a way to turn those numbers around could be more resources like theirs to pop up across the Commonwealth, as well as more job opportunities, but many of these concepts rely on the moves of state and federal legislators.
“In Frankfort when they’re doing these bills, they forget the faces, but we see the faces. Every food giveaway, every time we do a parking lot giveaway, we see the faces of the people needing help,” Stacy said.