Katie Wedell, USA TODAY Published 5:06 a.m. ET Nov. 24, 2021 While consumers are navigating higher prices on essentials like gas and...

A soup kitchen at Erie’s City Mission, which serves those affected by poverty, distributed 365,000 pounds of food in 2020, a 19% increase

Of the 2 million Pennsylvanians facing food insecurity in 2020, 630,000 were children, according to Feeding America data.

Demand is up almost 10 percent for assistance in 2021, while the food supply has decreased by more than 30 percent since fall 2020.

These funds have been used to purchase more than 7.9 million pounds of food, which will be delivered between June and December 2021.

The newly hungry have similar stories: Their industry collapsed, lost a job, hours were cut, an opportunity fell through because of illness.