Hartford, Connecticut's WFSB 3 reports how “the rising costs of both food and gas” are hurting families and stretching food pantry services
Reporter Taylor Knight: “Lower and middle income households have been hardest hit by the inflation recently. More of their budget is going to housing, food, and utilities, causing some to have to cut back on groceries.”
Published
This post is part of a series chronicling news coverage of rising prices in the United States. See more here.
Citation
From a June 3, 2026, video posted to the YouTube channel of WFSB 3
ERIN CONNOLLY: (CO-ANCHOR): Families across Connecticut are making some tough financial decisions. Some can't afford the rising costs of both food and gas.
MARK ZINNI: (CO-ANCHOR): And these higher prices also impacting a local organization that works to make sure people in need don't go hungry. Your reporter Taylor Knight explains.
TAYLOR KNIGHT (REPORTER): This is a mobile food pantry in Bristol. People stand in a long line with numbers in hand, waiting for theirs to get called so they can get some much-needed food. One of them is David Guertin. He has a family of 4 to feed and 3 cars to fill with gas.
DAVID GUERTIN: You can't walk out of a grocery store without going over $100. I mean, it's just crazy, you know, gas adds up. I mean, things just are adding up quicker, and quicker, and quicker.
KNIGHT: Mobile food pantry organizers Katie D'Agostino and Kim Ward Holley say he's not alone. As gas prices have increased over the past few months, so has the need for free food.
KATIE D’AGOSTINO: We're really back on that upswing, especially with everything increasing. So, we see about 120 people, families, at this location. We had gotten down to maybe close to 50 a couple of months ago.
KNIGHT: A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows lower and middle income households have been hardest hit by the inflation recently. More of their budget is going to housing, food, and utilities, causing some to have to cut back on groceries.
GUERTIN: Just got to tighten the belt a little bit, you know, making it work, you know. Just figuring out ways to cut corners here and there, little by little, try to save some money. Pretty much, you know, everything adds up.
KNIGHT: It's also adding up for Connecticut Food Share. Their 20-truck fleet runs on diesel, which is up more than $2 a gallon since last year.
JASON JAKUBOWSKI (CEO OF CONNECTICUT FOOD SHARE): That's unsustainable for us.
KNIGHT: President and CEO Jason Jakubowski says Connecticut Food Share is spending an extra $3,300 per week on fuel. That comes to $175,000 a year, which could instead be used to buy 350,000 meals.
JAKUBOWSKI: That's a difficult choice for us to make, but again, we have no choice but to get the meals out and to get the food out to people across the state of Connecticut. Pulling the trucks off the street and not using diesel fuel is not an option right now.
KNIGHT: Without those trucks, mobile food pantries like this one in Bristol wouldn't happen, and would be the end of a lifeline for Guertin and others in line.
GUERTIN: Yeah, everything adds, you know, everything helps out a little bit, you know, it adds up.
KNIGHT: This help is needed more as bills go higher and higher.