By Jordan Miller | The Salt Lake Tribune | Photo by Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune

Brandy Campbell has been fighting cancer since 2020.

In and out of work because of treatments and surgeries, her battle brought her to Calvary Salt Lake’s food pantry on a chilly Thursday earlier this month. Campbell and her sidekick, Boujee, a miniature Australian Shepherd, were joined by hundreds of others inching along in the Murray church’s car line.

“The cost of groceries is so expensive,” Campbell said. “It frees up some funds for my doctor bills and household needs. … In the last six months, [grocery costs have] only gotten worse.”

More Utahns are seeking food assistance now than they ever have. It’s a “frightening” time for food banks and pantries across the state, where pandemic demand never died down and now inflation, the threat of tariffs and impending federal layoffs have exacerbated the situation, Utah Food Bank CEO Ginette Bott said.

“We always have the issues with affordable housing, with affordable day care, with transportation,” Bott said. “I mean, families are just being bombarded with increases of all the things that are needed to keep their family safe, healthy and in home.”

Read the full story at sltrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.