Steve McCrossan, Executive Director
The latest numbers are in, and we are heading in the wrong direction.
Feeding America’s July 2026 Map the Meal Gap study estimates that 19.3% of children in New Hanover County are food insecure. That’s 1 in 5 kids, or 8,130 local children. These estimates are based on 2024 data, and it’s highly likely our community is worse off now due to a perfect storm of factors:
- Grocery prices are more than 30% higher than they were five years ago.
- Changes and uncertainty surrounding SNAP and Medicaid eligibility.
- Suspension of North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot.
- Reductions in government funding across the nonprofit sector.
For families already living close to the edge, it doesn’t take much to create a crisis. At NourishNC, we have witnessed these growing hunger statistics firsthand. Last school year, our two largest programs, the Backpack Program and Market on Market, grew a combined 32%.
Much of that growth occurred during roughly a 45-day period surrounding the SNAP benefit disruption and uncertainty that began in October 2025. Seemingly overnight, hundreds of additional children suddenly needed help. Over 600 new children were added to our programs in 45 days.
Through it all, I am proud to say that NourishNC didn’t turn a single child away. And I am sad to say, we’ve been here before. Child food insecurity in New Hanover County has been a roller coaster over the last decade.
- Around 2015, 1 in 4 children were food insecure in NHC.
- By 2020, that had improved to roughly 1 in 6.
- By 2021, it fell to approximately 1 in 8, aided in large part by extraordinary pandemic-era assistance and relief.
- By 2023, we were back to approximately 1 in 6.
- The latest estimate, released in 2026 and based on 2024 data: nearly 1 in 5.
We have seen sudden increases in hunger before, particularly around disasters. That used to mean hurricanes like Florence. Then COVID added global pandemics to the list. What we are experiencing now is what I would call a policy disaster: a rapid increase in hardship caused by changes in public policy, funding, or benefits that remove resources from families. The causes may look different, but the result for a child is the same: there isn’t enough food at home.
So, What Do We Do Now?
We keep going because we planned for this. NourishNC has spent years building the people, partnerships, facilities, programs, and systems necessary to respond when our community needs us most.
That means maintaining enough food and capacity to absorb sudden increases in need.
It means continuing to grow the Market on Market to meet increased demand, so families can choose the healthy foods that work for them.
It means bringing food directly to children through our Backpack, Food Farmacy, and Mobile Market programs.
It means investing in refrigeration, warehouse capacity, technology, and infrastructure so we can serve children more efficiently and with dignity.
NourishNC cannot control grocery prices, the weather, government policy, or the next economic disruption.
But we can control our response.
And our promise remains simple: when a child in our community needs food, we will be here.
One in five is where we are today. It does not have to be where we stay.
Join us in our mission to feed children in New Hanover County and take action here.
