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A decade ago, adults in Ohio 60 years of age and older (the population we will focus on in this brief) represented about 1 in 7 (14.24 percent) of the people served by Ohio’s charitable food pantry network. Last year, older Ohioans represented more than 1 in 5 (22.5 percent) of all food pantry visits. From SFY2011 to SFY2021, visits to food pantries by older Ohioans increased by 107 percent. For comparison, overall visits to food pantries over that same period increased by a more modest, yet still troubling, 30.5 percent.1 But this trend in increasing need among older Ohioans, while worsened by the current economic conditions we are all facing in the midst of a continued public health emergency, record-high inflation, long-lasting supply chain damage, and international warfare, has been consistent since the Great Recession. Even in periods of modest economic gains for workers earning low wages, such as in 2018 when Ohio’s inflation-adjusted median income had nearly recovered to pre recession levels2 and Ohio foodbanks saw overall visits for help with food plateau, older Ohioans continued to seek out help from food pantries more often every year. In this brief, you will hear directly from older adults participating in SNAP about their experiences with food hardship.

A legislator's guide to addressing hunger