Local food basket in need to help others in need

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The holiday season is a time when people really try to help those in need. Local News 8 visited the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket to find out how well it's able to help people this year.

Ariel Jackson, the Food Basket's Executive Director, says they’ve seen about a 30% increase in people needing to get food from them since the COIVD-19 pandemic. In 2024, donations have gone down about 30%.

“Food is more expensive. Rent is more expensive. All of our basic needs items are more expensive, and it makes it more difficult to donate," Jackson said. "So we're in a struggle right now to have enough food to meet the needs of those that we're serving.”

In 2017, the Food Basket served about 2,000 families. In 2023, they served about 16,000 families. That need quadrupled in only a few years.

"On any given day, we don't know who maybe just lost their job or whose car broke down, and they had to use their money to fix their car to get to work, or who's facing some sort of crisis."

Jackson says the holiday season is when the Food Basket gets the most donations and stocks up to help people get through the tough winter months when their bills are going up. 

We asked Jackson what the Food Basket needs the most right now.

“We're really in need of can actually dry pasta, canned pasta like Spaghetti-Os, those things that kids can eat maybe when they're home from school on Christmas vacation. The biggest [need] we face all year long is cold cereal.”

Jackson also says food donations are great, but donating money is the best way to help because they can stretch one dollar into about five dollars worth of food.

More ways to help the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket and the people it serves can be found here.