Kelly Anderson

 If you've found it harder to find ketchup for your burger or wood to build that deck you've always wanted, there's a reason. A combination of factors, including the global pandemic, severe winter storms and a hacking incident have caused massive disruptions to U.S. supply chains this year. The result is new shortages of some items, continued scarcities of others and rising prices. Leanne Greer, 50, is seeing this play out at the gas pump. She recently drove to three gas stations before finding a place to fill up near her home in Canton, Georgia. People concerned about gas shortages have flocked to the pumps, making the situation worse. "I think if people were just acting normal, this wouldn't have happened,” says Greer, who saw lines of more than 50 cars at gas stations in her area. Here's a look at what's currently hard to come by and why. 1. Gas Thousands of gas stations across the Southeast shut down recently after a group of hackers launched a cyberatt...

 The community dining room shut down. The café closed its doors. During the COVID-19 quarantine, residents at a Pennsylvania retirement community got all their meals delivered to their doorsteps, where they ate at home on their own to prevent a virus outbreak. The coronavirus put a stop to socializing around meals at The Hill at Whitemarsh in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. But executive chef Adam Ochs dreamed up the idea for a meal-kit service that could help residents prepare restaurant-quality food in their home kitchens and continue to feel engaged with their community. Calling it “Green Apron” as a play on the popular Blue Apron meal-kit delivery service, Ochs put together boxes of premeasured ingredients and instructional videos to help residents navigate broiling, dicing and sautéing. The July offering featured broiled halibut with green tomato salsa, mango-stuffed crepes and homemade granola. The goal was to provide residents with an activity to do at home, while still having...

After her husband and daughter both contracted the coronavirus in March, Lynda Better, 66, knew she could no longer risk grocery shopping. "I'm a senior and I have asthma, so I really can't go out to the stores,” Better says. “My husband's already had [COVID-19], so I'm just kind of scared." Fortunately for Better, who lives in San Diego, a volunteer delivery service called Teens Helping Seniors is making sure at-risk populations can stay at home while obtaining food and other critical resources. The organization, started by high school classmates Dhruv Pai, 16, and Matt Casertano, 15, in Montgomery County, Maryland, connects volunteers with nearby seniors to deliver groceries and medication free of charge. "I didn't really want my grandparents to have to go out and go to grocery stores and be in contact with a lot of people,” Pai says. “I thought, What if I can kind of be the intermediary so they don't have to put themselves at risk?" Grocer...