Even after working grueling, 80-hour weeks, Holly Callaway can’t always afford to feed her family.

The single mother of three children works three, sometimes four, jobs.

“I’m literally just getting up to work to make the money to pay for the house that I’m never in,” the 35-year-old from Greenville said.

Though she acquired her Doctorate of Chiropractic, she works as an interior painter, at a cabinet shop and an art gallery. Some weeks, she puts in time as a sound engineer.

“Even with a doctorate, they couldn’t pay me enough to pay my bills,” Callaway said, explaining why she does not work as a chiropractor.

Holly and her family face food insecurity issues, and they’re far from alone in Greenville County.

Food insecurity, defined by USDA as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life, impacts 45,000 people in Greenville County, according to food rescue Loaves & Fishes Greenville. Two-thirds of those impacted are single-parent families while 53% of Greenville County Schools students are eligible for free or reduced meals.

Food insecurity issues can affect people and families for a host of reasons.

Brooke Brittain, associate director of food and nutrition security with Clemson University, says lack of access to a physical grocery store or to affordable housing or healthcare can cause food insecurity.

“All those things are going to increase your likelihood of being food insecure,” she said.

Tessa May, executive director of Loaves & Fishes Greenville, recalls a time when she first began working with the food rescue. A woman asked if she could still be served by a food pantry if she arrived in the only car she has: a fully paid-off Mercedes. The woman’s husband suddenly lost his job, and they found themselves needing food.

“If you’re having to make difficult decisions, like paying for your medicine, putting gas in your car, or a light bill, then food becomes something that gets pushed down the list,” May said. “We are all one bad day away from this, potentially.”

What communities in Greenville County are suffering from food insecurity the most?

LiveWell Greenville, an organization working to increase healthy eating and active living for county residents, developed the Path to Healing Plan, a community-developed plan focused on“nutrition security, neighborhood environment and social connectedness of the White Horse Road neighborhoods in Greenville County.”

The study found that while food insecurity rates decreased from 15% in 2009 to less than 10% in 2020, large disparities exist by race. Out of the approximately 5,000 people living in the area, 19% of the Black population suffer from food insecurity, with 14% among the Hispanic population and only 5% in the white population.

May says food insecurity does not impact one specific area of Greenville County, but instead, affects it as a whole. Chief Operating Officer of Project Host, a food kitchen in Greenville, Michelle Liggett echoes this sentiment.

“It hits everyone pretty much, equally, across the board,” she says.

In a partnership with Furman University’s Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities, Furman’s Institute for the Advancement of Community Health and LiveWell Greenville, a broader study was conducted to identify food insecure communities within Greenville County.

The most food-insecure community in Greenville County is the Nicholtown community, according to the data from 2022. More than 25% of households in Nicholtown receive SNAP benefits or cash public assistance.

Demand increases for non-profits with cost of living increasing

On average every day except for Saturday, 100 people visit Greenville’s Project Host for a free meal with no questions asked.

When the weather is nice, the nonprofit sees more people as those in need are able to walk or ride a bicycle. Project Hope sees an increase at the end of the month as many have used their allotment of SNAP or WIC benefits.

As food prices rise, Project Host has seen fewer donations.

USDA reports food prices were 4.3% higher in Aug. 2023 compared to Aug. 2022.

“The cost of us feeding people has increased and people who normally would donate don’t necessarily have the disposable income to suddenly, you know, go grocery shopping and add something for us,” Project Hope chief operating officer Michelle Liggett said.

In March, The News reported nonprofits experienced an increase in demand when COVID-19 era SNAP allotments receded to previous amounts. The increased demand is not going away.

“We’re seeing increases in numbers of people who are needing assistance continuing to grow,” said May.

Although supplemental programs like SNAP and WIC help those in need, increased food prices mean those benefits don’t stretch as far for individuals and families.

“So, they might have been able to get through the whole month on what they got for the month (previously),” said Director of Operations with Foothills Family Resources Kristen Mullis. “But now that grocery prices have gone up, they can’t.”

Access to healthy food becomes strained when food insecure

With access to food limited, it becomes even harder to think about providing oneself with healthy food. If access to a grocery store is limited, one might head to a dollar store to stock up on canned meals ― which are usually higher in sodium.

Many food pantries also see high donations of shelf-stable canned goods as opposed to fresh produce.

Further complicating finding healthy food, someone using SNAP or WIC, or someone with a limited amount of money might gravitate towards the cheapest food they can find, which might not be the healthiest.

“Those things are expensive … Fruits and vegetables are not cheap,” Foothills Family Resources Executive Director Marilyn Neves said. “They would buy what they absolutely have to have because there’s just not enough money for them to do it any other way.”

For example, USDA found fresh apples would be around $4.50 for three pounds, with canned apples costing around $3.20. Fresh corn costs $5.60 for three pounds and $3.10 for canned corn. Finally, fresh spinach costs $8.9 for three pounds, while canned would only be $3.90.

This means someone food insecure might also be nutritionally insecure, a term defined by someone’s lack of access to healthy foods.

It’s not so much as filling bellies as much as it is about actually providing nutrition to people,” May said. “We are constantly looking for sources of fresh produce because we see the challenge that it is for those experiencing food insecurity.”

Food insecurity can also cause a range of health issues ― Feeding America found food insecurity can lead to Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity.

“If you’re eating canned green beans, you might be thinking that you’re eating vegetables, but maybe not understanding the sodium content that goes into preserving those green beans,” said Jennifer Springhart, faculty advisor for the University of South Carolina’s Root Cause, a monthly health fair.

Often, Callaway opts to feed herself with microwaved noodles, an easy and microwaved meal averaging at 30 cents per package.

“How much harder am I supposed to work?” she says.

Savannah Moss covers Greenville County for The News. Reach her via email at [email protected].