SAN ANTONIO – A new Feeding America study using 2024 data showed about 21% of the San Antonio Food Bank’s 29-county service region is food insecure, up from 17% in the year before.
“It’s not easy, a single grandparent raising six kids,” said Roberto Font.
Font relies on the San Antonio Food Bank twice a month, loading up his van with healthy food for his grandkids.
“We get vegetables, you get the meats, you get the starch, you get the fruit. So everything that the children need,” Font said.
He has to lean more on the food bank now since federal policy changes slashed his SNAP benefits about four months ago.
“I was getting about $1,400 a month. Now I only get $400 and change a month for six kids,” Font said. ”It’s not enough. I have to make ends meet.”
The Feeding America study released Tuesday shows Font is one of 629,590 people in the Southwest Texas region labeled food insecure.
That’s 1 in 5 people, up from 1 in 6 the year before. The hardest part to see is that when it comes to kids alone, it’s 1 in 4.
The study webpage has an interactive map that lets users scroll over any county in the nation to see food insecurity information, including the cost of food or the cost of a meal in each community.
Eric Cooper, CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, emphasized that these numbers are from 2024 and said things have changed a lot even since then.
“I’ve experienced ’25, and I’m currently experiencing ’26, and the line is just getting longer,” Cooper said. “These SNAP cuts hit in ’26, and we’re seeing the effects of more people in our line.”
He said low wages and the high cost of food, fuel, and rent are squeezing the small salary people can bring in.
“The only strategy we can invoke is kind of rationing,” Cooper said. ”We try to spread what we have over that demand. Any gains we have or increased support allows us to better nourish.”
Cooper’s message to lawmakers and community leaders is that safety net programs need more help, not less.
“Federal safety net programs like SNAP, National School Lunch Program, WIC, they’re all critical programs,” he said. ”The charitable safety net at the food bank, we’re trying to make up the difference, but that gap is getting larger.”
Cooper said it will take everyone’s support to keep food on the table for families like Font’s, but they will never turn people away.
“It seems like no matter how many more people need it, they’re always there. They keep getting it,” Font said. ”I think it’s more about all the people that are donating, making it possible.”
When Font is not working or taking care of the children, he volunteers his time at the food bank to help others.
“If I’m being blessed through the food bank or other places, it’s my responsibility to try to help someone else get that same support,” Font said.
Font encourages people to set aside pride if their family is hungry and utilize the food bank services.
Anyone who needs food assistance can go to the San Antonio Food Bank website or call the helpline at 210-431-8326. People who can donate time or money can also find ways to do that on the food bank website.
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