In an acknowledgment of hunger in Curry County, Commissioners on Wednesday accepted a grant request from the American Rescue Plan for $125,000.The grant comes at the request of Pamela Winebarger from the Brookings Harbor Community Food Bank who told commissioners with federal emergency supplemental nutrition programs coming to an end, her office will be “inundated” with hungry people.Pandemic assistance programs , including supplemental nutrition program increases, are ending in March for individuals and families.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');“People are struggling with inflation already and making hard choices every day.” Winebarger stated that 14% of all Curry County residents live at or below the poverty level. 33% are working people just above the poverty line as defined in a measurement known as “ALICE” or “asset limited income constrained employed” people. That puts roughly half of Curry County living in poverty profound enough to make hunger a real part of their lives. Pamela Winebarger, Financial Director at the food bank, shows how vegetables are stored. File photo Senior citizens are even more at risk with 44% falling into the ALICE measurement and 11% at or below the poverty line. With 56% of seniors experiencing food insecurity, it’s also true that this population is the fastest growing demographic of homeless residents throughout the state of Oregon.Winebarger warned commissioners that without help, they will not be able to address the need. She added that extreme weather and roads in parts of the county closed, delivery of food from South Coast Food Share have been unpredictable and she also noted that despite being the second largest food bank, they are toward the bottom of the amount of food delivered and often have to supplement with items they purchase at retail stores which drives their costs up.“There’s an old saying, food is medicine. And food is one of the three requirements to live. We need to accept this grant,” said Winebarger.By unanimous vote the commissioners agreed to accept the grant funding. Exactly how it will be administered is yet to be decided with the option of the city administering it themselves as suggested by county counsel or they’ll consider using the South Coast Food Share program. Commissioners plan to weigh their options of how to administer the grant at their next meeting.Meantime, the Brookings Harbor Community Food Bank will continue serving 3,300 hundred people per month. Without the grant, they could not reasonably feed those in need according to Winebarger.A request was also made to commissioners to consider offering more days for warming shelters but that was not discussed. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });