Resident on assistance from Interfaith Ministries: 'They bring us food, as sometimes we can’t afford it. It helps a lot'

Inflation has prompted nonprofit organizations such as Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston to step up their efforts during the holiday season, according to a report from Houston FOX affiliate KRIV. 

It’s not just the elderly who need assistance but refugees who fled their war-torn homelands for Houston as well, the station reported.

Interfaith Ministries told the station that it welcomes any assistance from the public be it financial donations or helping gather items on the wish lists of the families they’re helping. 

With the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan now just a memory and tensions between Ukraine and Russia mounting up, the Bayou City has seen its population increase with people from these two nations in addition to Cuba. 

"We’re helping them find apartment homes, schools, health care,” Interfaith Ministries head Martin Cominsky said, KRIV reported. “But after that time, people have continued needs."

According to the station, Interfaith Ministries is helping over 4,300 refugees from 20 countries. 

Meanwhile, Meals on Wheels deliveries to the elderly jumped 25% from last year, which client Amado Garcia considers a godsend, KRIV reported. 

"They bring us food, as sometimes we can’t afford it. It helps a lot," Garcia told the station.

KRIV reported that increasing demand in Galveston County resulted in Interfaith Ministries opening a branch office in La Marque. 

"This inflationary time is really making it hard to spread those dollars to get everything people need for the holiday," Cominsky told the station. 

Houston NBC affiliate KPRC reported that those experiencing food insecurity can turn to groups such as Meals on Wheels, the Houston Food Bank and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Hunger Clearinghouse for help.