Preparing for the Next Hunger Crisis

With the end of the year comes planning for the one to come, and this year most anti-hunger organizations are preparing for a much more difficult next twelve months.

With cuts to SNAP, purchasing restrictions, implementation of new eligibility requirements, and the expiration of ACA subsidies leading to higher healthcare costs, many, many more people are going to face hunger in 2026.

Frustratingly, the chronic nature of hunger and perishability of foods means that it’s incredibly difficult to preempt it in the food banking system.

In a perfect world, we’d take the policy steps necessary to prevent it by ensuring people have money to buy what they need and that healthy food is accessible to everyone.

The next best option would be to ensure that food pantries and food banks have an abundant support so that they don’t ever have to send someone away hungry.

Tragically, most anti-hunger advocates have access to none of these options. But that doesn’t mean that we must just sit back and wait for the coming crisis. There are still steps that we can take to preemptively fight hunger and make our communities stronger. Effective action demands that we recognize the complexity of hunger and acknowledge that it does not exist in a silo.

Food insecurity is not really about the cost of food or the absence of the resources to pay for it.

It’s about the health of individuals and communities, both physical, economic, and social, and what resources are made available to them. Hunger is no accident.  

Most importantly, hunger is not something that we can manage individually. The only way we can successfully fight it is through coalition building with traditional and unconventional partners.

What can anti-hunger organizations do to fight hunger without food:

• Connect with organizations who can provide support on health insurance. Health insurance is a confusing monster. I can’t pretend to understand how it all works, and I also don’t have the time (or patience!) That’s why it’s so important to seek out people and organizations who understand the details and can offer resources and empathy to individuals who face astronomically rising costs or having to go without it altogether.

Instead of waiting for the deluge of phone calls, start researching today who can be on your support team. Find shareable links or the phone numbers of real human beings. With costs doubling or more, it means people will have to choose between eating or having health insurance, which leaves them less healthy overall and vulnerable to emergencies.

• Make friends with your local housing advocates. Housing security is closely tied to many other factors, and keeping people safely housed can help them weather significant other challenges. Housing resources are highly localized and almost as confusing as health insurance, but most big cities will have several organizations specializing in housing support. They are likely also overwhelmed but can hopefully still offer opportunities for information sharing and collaboration that can benefit you and the people you serve.

• Connect with local schools. While they’re just as strapped for funding as any food pantry, they offer enormous access to children and local families, compelling opportunities for storytelling, and motivated advocates. Maybe they’ve already got teams engaged around school lunches or a backpack program, and there may be opportunities for collaboration or expansion. Anti-hunger issues are too often managed alone, but now is the time to eliminate those barriers.

• Look out for other service organizations that offer support with pet food, diapers, menstrual hygiene or other essentials that are often ignored. Collaborative fundraisers, awareness campaigns, or other events can help you both promote your services and attract donors or volunteers.

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I confess that I don’t have good feelings about 2026 overall. However, I find solace in the knowledge that there are so many people doing anti-hunger work right now driven by passion, empathy, and fierce determination. Every day, I see incredible innovation, experimentation, and a willingness to think outside the box that we haven’t previously harnessed in this field.

This is exhausting work, but I’m excited and honored to be among peers committed to ensuring all our neighbors are nourished with compassion and dignity.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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