ATLANTA — As inflation continues and prices for everything soar, the number families seeking help is skyrocketing.
“Prices just need to go down,” said metro Atlanta resident Trish. "We need to go back to the old days."
Trish did not want to share her last name, but as she unloaded the groceries she just bought, she continued to tell 11Alive about the higher prices she now has to pay.
“What used to be 99 cents is now two dollars," she explained. "Lettuce is high -- it’s $3.29 for a bag of lettuce. Come on. Ice is three dollars, so inflation is really bad around here."
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One after another, other metro Atlanta residents told 11Alive they are feeling the strain of inflation.
“I used to come to the grocery like every week, now I come like once a month," explained Sharron Bryden. "I just can’t. The difference in price is too much.."
Chef Christopher Monroe also told 11Alive the high prices are leading people he knows to make tough choices.
“Sometimes it’s a decision between medication and food, and that’s hard for them to do,” he said.
But nonprofits like Hoesa Helps is one of the many organizations working to bridge the gap for thousands of metro Atlanta residents.
The organization collects everything -- from turkeys to all the sides -- for its annual Thanksgiving dinner, which is Nov. 10 this year. Hoesa Helps' Chief Operating Officer Afemo Omilami said the need is overwhelming this year.
“I need help with rent, need utility assistance, I need help with food, I need help with medicine,” Omilami rattled off, as he described how the calls for help have dramatically increased – up 40% since just the beginning of the year.
"The minimum wage is $7.25. What is somebody supposed to do with that, when your rent for a one-bedroom it is up to $1600, now a two-bedroom up to $2200 or more," Omilami asked. "These are families already at the poverty line."
He also said Georgia now ranks 27th in the country for child food insecurity. And his organization, and others, needs help themselves to try to reach as many families as possible. Families like Wayne Johnson's.
“Rent assistance, food, bills. Everything," Johnson said. "(Hosea Helps) bridges the gap in what I was trying to get done."