Dear Partners,

For many of us, we remember a breakfast spot from childhood – a favorite diner, a familiar chain, or even a fast-food stop. Mine was The Bagelry, but my family had a few places on our list of regulars. For us, eating out was a way to save time and stay connected amidst busy work schedules. We weren’t going for fancy meals – just affordable, comforting staples we could count on.

So when I saw the recent news about some restaurants charging extra per egg due to the national egg shortage, it brought back those childhood memories. And I thought about how something as small as an egg could quickly become trouble for families with little financial cushion.

It turns out, the bird flu has devastated the poultry industry, with over 145 million chickens culled since 2022 to stop its spread. The result? Egg prices have soared, hitting $4.94 per dozen this spring, and the USDA predicts another 20% increase this year. For many, that’s just another inconvenience. But for the 42% of households in Columbia County that can’t make ends meet, it’s yet another hit to a fragile budget.

And if a struggling family tries to save money by switching to cereal instead of eggs? The price of cereal has jumped just as much, rising from around $6 to nearly $10 per family-sized box since the pandemic. To make matters worse, manufacturers have shrunk the box size while charging more, a trend now widely known as “shrinkflation.”

I don’t blame the businesses for this – they’re facing rising costs themselves. But it’s just another hurdle for ALICE® (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families with income above the Federal Poverty Level but less than the cost of essentials. ALICE works hard, often at more than one job, and still falls short. In fact, in Oregon, a family of four with two adults working as a full-time personal care aide and stock worker/order filler – two common jobs – earns about $52,250 less than what’s needed just to cover basics like groceries.

And it’s not just certain jobs. Across our state, more than one-third of workers in the 20 most common jobs – cashiers, cooks, janitors, delivery drivers – live in households that can’t afford the basics and are forced to make sacrifices just to get breakfast and other meals on the table.

That’s why we do what we do at United Way of Columbia County. Our mission is to help ALICE families gain financial stability and to keep them from slipping into poverty over something as simple as a rising grocery bill. Because for too many families, it’s not just an extra few cents per egg. It’s another crack in the fragile foundation they’re trying to stand on.

When I think back to those Bagelry outings with my family, I remember more than just the food. I remember the warmth of the restaurant, the kindness of the wait staff who always seemed to know our orders, and the sense of normalcy it gave us in often uncertain times.

That’s what stability feels like. That’s what we’re fighting for. Together, we can make it happen.