When the prices for necessities rise, families with the least wiggle room in their budget suffer.
April 8, 2024
The Wall Street Journal recently published a comparison of grocery pricing – 2019 vs 2024, entitled: “How Far $100 Goes at the Grocery Store After Five Years of Food Inflation”
They found the same staples would now cost you $137. This requires taking something else out of the family budget.
Some items are 50% more than they used to be, including beef and cooking oil. Eggs are up more than 60% – which is tough for families needing to pinch pennies, since they’ve long been used as an inexpensive source of protein.
When you have some extra money in the budget, or some savings, you can weather higher costs. You can trim down “fun” purchases at the grocery store. You can go generic instead of name-brand. You can meal plan and cut out any impulse buys.
But when your grocery budget is already bare-bones there isn't room to cut or trim.
So, other parts of your budget have to give. You have to go without something. And for low-income families with children, that can mean new shoes for growing feet just aren’t possible anymore.
71% of teachers and school staff that we work with responded to our recent survey that more children are in need of shoes than in prior years.
“With the rising costs of food, housing, clothing, gas, etc. families are just stretched so thin right now. Money has to go further, meaning clothes have to last longer and shoes have to be worn much longer than before. Little feet continue to grow, so I see students very regularly that have long outgrown their shoes but their parents cannot afford to buy new ones. Students have to wear siblings' shoes that are often not the right size and are well past their better days.” – Coordinator, Family Resource Center, Eubank, KY
To help families like these, please give today. Your gift helps families who are struggling to afford the basics, like groceries. Your generosity makes sure these children have shoes that actually fit, shoes that allow them to learn, play, and thrive at school.
