Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is doing her part to help Michiganders struggling to get by during the holidays, and there’s a lot more of those folks than when she took office in 2019.

“The holiday season is about coming together, from spending time with loved ones to supporting your neighbors,” Whitmer posted to X on Tuesday, along with a video promoting her good deeds. “@LtGovGilchrist and I recently visited @glfoodbank to help pack meals for Michigan families, and I encourage you to find ways to give back to your community too.”

The holiday season is about coming together, from spending time with loved ones to supporting your neighbors. @LtGovGilchrist and I recently visited the @glfoodbank to help pack meals for Michigan families, and I encourage you to find ways to give back to your community too. pic.twitter.com/rZHT5Y9nmL

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) November 19, 2024

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

The video featured Big Gretch in a pink sweatshirt that read “Wear Pink Get Shit Done” as she wiped down boxed food and packed it into boxes at the Greater Lansing Food Bank, where the Lansing State Journal reports “demand on the food bank continues to rise.”

The increasing demand on food banks across Michigan has become a serious problem for many in recent years, forcing some to cut back on what and how much they distribute to meet basic needs for thousands each week.

Nancy Comley, executive director for the Green Apple Pantry in Grand Rapids told Marketplace in August demand is up 30%, and it’s not just from folks who are homeless or out of work.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

“So these are people that have – you know, they’re not living in the system, they’re not getting all kinds of other support, but they’re finding that they don’t have enough money,” she said.

The overwhelming demand, and limits on visits at many food banks, have also forced others to turn to discount stores to get by, where many are opting for cheaper store brands over name brands and buying in bulk to save.

“We’re … seeing customers will to try larger sizes so that they can make their dollar stretch a bit further,” Kimberly Jones, director of sales and purchasing at Daily Deals in Wyoming, told the news site, adding that sales of store-brand meats are up 25%. “Customers are willing to trade into different brands so they can get a value.”

Despite Whitmer’s efforts “to expand economic opportunity and prosperity for all Michiganders,” the number of residents who cannot afford a “survival budget” that covers basics like shelter, food, transportation, and child care has exploded by nearly 200,000 since she took office in 2019.

Those folks, described as Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed (ALICE), accounted for 41% of the state’s 4 million households in 2022, including more than half in 11 counties: Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton, Baraga, Alger, Luce, Oscoda, Iosco, Lake, Clare and Wayne.

In several cities, the percentage is nearly 80%.

In 2019, the statewide percentage of folks living paycheck to paycheck was 38%.

The significant increase is due in large part to inflation adjusted household incomes in Michigan declining by 3% since that time, or about three times faster than the national average, data from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey shows.

“There’s a real concern that voters have with their financial situation,” University of Michigan economist Don Grimes told Bridge Michigan. “I think (the worries are) even more profound than the data shows.”

Roughly half of Michiganders (49%) who rent spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2023, while about a quarter of Michigan’s renter households spent more than have of their income on housing, according to the Census data cited by the Detroit Free Press.

“Renters are hugely cost burdened,” said William Lawrence, state coordinator with the Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, told the news site. “Every day we hear from tenants who are having to choose between housing and health care, between housing and child care, between housing and, you know, their kids’ education and it’s so not right. Not getting any better.”

There’s also a data from a University of Michigan Poverty & Well-being Map that details skyrocketing housing costs near Detroit and in northwest Michigan, high rates of food insecurity in the east central region, lagging wages in east Michigan, high child poverty rates in the northeast, and the detrimental impact of poor educational outcomes in the south central region.

Other data from the University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging shows the rising costs in Michigan have been a big problem for older Michiganders. The poll found “58% of older Michiganders say they’ve cut back on spending, 51% say they’ve been impacted by inflation a great deal, 57% say they have felt some or a lot of stress about personal finances, and 15% say they’ve avoided or delayed spending on health care and health-related costs.”

The situation is also having a significant impact on the state’s youth, contributing to a decline in every education metric detailed in a 2024 Kids Count Data Book since Whitmer took office.

The measure of child well-being from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Michigan League for Public Policy ranked Michigan 41^st nationally in education, while other categories including “children whose parents lack secure employment,” “children living in households with high housing cost burden,” and “teens not in school and not working” trending in the wrong direction since 2019.

“Here in Michigan, 18% of our state’s children are living in poverty, which is slightly above the national average, and nearly half of our state’s kids have gone through at least one adverse childhood experience,” MLPP President Monique Stanton said in a statement cited by WILX. “These findings underscore the importance of strengthening Michigan families and mitigating childhood poverty through bold state policy decisions so that all of our kids have the solid foundations they need to be present and successful in their classrooms.”

While that hasn’t happened, there’s signs things are likely to get worse before they get better, as evidenced by predictions health care costs are “poised for a giant leap next year,” back-to-back double-digit energy rate hike requests, seven straight months of rising unemployment, thousands of lost auto industry jobs, and expected widescale restaurant industry layoffs in 2025.