Food banks and food pantries responded nimbly and quickly to an unprecedented increase in demand and provided assistance to at least 60 million Americans in 2020, says guest columnist Craig Gundersen.

A reason to not get too excited about a lower 2020 poverty rate is that the share of Americans experiencing food insecurity rose to an estimated 13.9% in 2020 from 10.9% in 2019, says guest columnist Elena Delavega.

The pandemic has accelerated the emergence of a number of innovations in food banks and pantries and encouraged client-centered practices like trauma-informed services, mobile and delivery options, say guest columnists Caitlin Caspi and Marlene Schwartz.

It is important to acknowledge that not all the changes the virus wrought have been bad ones. We ask Generocity's community to help us identify the nonprofits that have cultivated positive change.

Going to a food pantry more than once a month, rather than once a month or less, is linked with a higher-quality diet, says guest columnist Heather Eicher-Miller.

The online platform used at the Mitzvah Food Program's food pantry was built with tools to help encourage healthy eating and easy adherence to dietary or religious preferences, says Brian Gralnick.

Feeding America says demand on food banks since March has increased an average of 50% and it is estimating members will need $1.4 billion to keep pace with the exploding need. But some local food banks say donations have started to decline.

Philadelphia has a number of well-established programs tasked with alleviating food insecurity that have stepped up their efforts to adapt to the additional needs precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic.