Some of the largest food pantries in Dane County are dealing with record levels of demand, according to a joint press release from five Dane County food pantries.

Middleton Outreach Ministry has seen a 116% increase in demand since this time last year for food services, Executive Director Ellen Carlson said in an email statement to the Badger Herald.

Carlson points to high food costs, lack of affordable housing in Dane County and lessening pandemic-era governmental support for individuals as factors leading to the rise in demand for food pantry services.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul-Madison Communications Manager Katherine Higgins said their food pantry has seen a 109% increase in usage.

Food pantries can help alleviate necessary food costs as Dane County residents battle high inflation, Higgins said. Some families only use food pantry services for a week or a month so that they are able to focus on other bills, she said.

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The Society of St. Vincent de Paul-Madison is currently serving an average of 177 households a day through its food pantry, with a record-breaking 277 households served on Nov. 17, according to Higgins. Higgins said this trend can be viewed as an even larger increase from pre-pandemic days, which saw them serving around 60-100 households a day.

“We don’t want to be breaking records, we don’t want people to be struggling,” Higgins said. “We’re very glad to be able to have enough food and receive donations to supply the food, but these are not records we want to be breaking by any means at all… you don’t want to see a really long line for the pantry.”

Carlson said she does not predict that the high levels of demand will decrease anytime soon because the factors causing it are not changing.

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MOM is celebrating Giving Tuesday on Nov. 29 and Carlson hopes that people will consider donating to MOM and other Dane County food pantries to help those in need.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul-Madison relies on volunteers to operate and is now working to raise the number of volunteers they can take on to help with the increase in demand for their food pantry services, Higgins said.

“We’re just asking folks to be generous right now, a lot of people are in need,” Higgins said. “We all need to just kind of come together to help each other.”