S.L. Co. starts food access webpage in response to COVID-19 demand

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased number of people needing food assistance but finding help can be challenging. Salt Lake County has launched its new food access webpage that provides easy access to multiple food resources all in one place. In addition to emergency food pantries, the National School Lunch Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food access webpage provides information for food assistance programs operated by Salt Lake County and information for Meals on Wheels, Senior Center Meals, Pet Crew Pantry and WIC.

The website can be found at slco.org/food.

According to the recently released annual report “Household Food Security in the United States in 2020,” one in 10 Utah households experience food insecurity and more than 102,000 Utah families do not have the resources to buy enough food.

Marti Woolford, webpage creator and special projects coordinator for the Salt Lake County Mayor’s Office, said, “In 2020, service providers saw a large increase in food assistance need. United Way 2-1-1 received more than twice the number of calls from people seeking help with food and the Utah Food Bank’s mobile pantry program saw a 192 percent increase in households served since the pandemic began over the same time last year. Food assistance programs like SNAP and the emergency food system were able to respond to the increased need brought on by COVID-19. If these programs were not able to address the need, the food insecurity rate in 2020 would have been much higher.”

“The health and well-being of the residents of Salt Lake County is a top priority of my administration,” said Mayor Jenny Wilson. “Our senior centers provide a nutritious lunch to older adults. The WIC program ensures that babies and new moms have access to healthy food. And our Pet Crew Pantry makes sure that our family pets do not go without food either. “The new food access webpage makes it much easier to get help from these county programs and many more food resources.”