Region’s largest hunger relief organization loses about $8 million in support due to federal cuts

The Philly region s largest hunger relief organization will be facing major challenges following up-to-date U S Department of Agriculture funding cuts The Share Food Operation provides help to countless people in the Philadelphia area executive director George Matysik commented We are a food bank serving the five-county area so Philadelphia and the four collar counties and our organization serves hundreds of thousands of individuals per week Matysik revealed This includes about kids per day that we work with through the National School Lunch Campaign So we have a configuration of about total organizations plus about schools that get food from us We also have the largest senior hunger relief initiative in the state A multitude of organizations and individuals in the Philly region rely on the Share Food Venture for their food Photo courtesy of Perri Specter Direct impacts The USDA s newest cuts will affect several of the Share Food Campaign s offerings The Local Food Purchasing Assistance Activity provides funds to local farmers to produce fresh produce for local food banks In Pennsylvania LFPA funding is split between organizations serving every county in the state Pennsylvania suffered a total of million in cuts to the undertaking which would have been distributed over the syllabus of three years That will translate into about million taken from the Share Food Scheme which Matysik stated will impact local farmers as well as consumers It s all part of national USDA actions that were reported and revealed in March This was funding that was specifically used to be able to go out and purchase food from Pennsylvania farmers to basically fill in specific of the gaps of food that we re not getting as much either donated or from the USDA he announced For instance a lot of the purchases that we ve done in the last year from Pennsylvania farmers have included Pennsylvania-produced eggs and dairy products like milk lean proteins items like that Those are particular of the primary items that we re able to buy from Pennsylvania farmers In addition to these cuts Matysik commented there will also be over million in cuts for food that would have been delivered to the organization from the USDA through The Crisis Food Assistance Venture or TEFAP As with LFPA the moves will impact farmers the low-income families that receive food assistance at no cost and companies that manufacture products that food banks use All of this is being cut from both organizations like ours and the folks that we serve as well as from farmers and producers who are growing this product he revealed We also saw about million in USDA food that was destined for us that was canceled he revealed It s canceled for a variety of reasons by the USDA but selected of it has to do with the agreement war that s evolving The tariffs that are kind of in the process of going into place as well as just particular cuts that are happening for whatever reason from the federal regime right now Between food and funds the organization will be losing out on about million Matysik mentioned This comes at a time where there is an increased need for food assistance programs All in all it means about a reduction in total food coming into the warehouse as we forecast for the year ahead he reported So pretty considerable challenges at a time as I mentioned earlier when we re seeing our need increase by about and in addition to that the cost of food continues to skyrocket The Share Food Undertaking is more vital now than ever before Matysik noted Funding cuts will make distributing and sourcing food more complicated Photo courtesy of Share Food Undertaking He emphasized this would be a major hit to the agricultural industry The economic impacts that cut USDA programs like TEFAP and LFPA go far beyond just feeding folks that are hungry which should be enough he declared But in addition to that it s also having a huge economic impact on the agriculture industry which is one of Pennsylvania s leading industries Changing program To compensate for these cuts Matysik noted the organization is assessing its options We re having to sort of diversify our food portfolio he mentioned That s already taking place And we re also having to go out and seek more donated products coming in We ve been sending our trucks further and further out for five-hour drives to pick up large-scale donations from organizations elsewhere in the state in the region that we can bring back here to be able to distribute out in Philadelphia He explained these longer trips increase expenses demanding more fuel and longer shifts for drivers Staff for the Share Food Operation may have to drive further to source food now which can lead to increased costs for the undertaking in the midst of funding cuts Photo courtesy of Chris Baker Evens Another concern is the impact of tariffs on costs and sourcing of fruits and vegetables going forward A lot of the food that comes into food banks in this region of the country comes from the ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington he mentioned He explained these federal actions could create real problems including the unavailability of certain fruits and veggies One of the major things to remember is you know for a lot of those imported goods that you literally can t grow those products in the United States he noted Jess Bautista is the chief communications officer at Share Food Campaign She disclosed likely cuts to SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Initiative in the midst of these other funding cuts could be catastrophic A lot of the federal cuts we re seeing and the loss of food that we re experiencing right now is happening at a time when they have specific proposed cuts to SNAP which is truly one of if not THE backbone of the food precaution programs we have in this country she declared And I think that cannot be overstated enough For those interested in helping the organization Matysik explained the Share Food Initiative website has a great number of information Folks can also find out how to donate their time and volunteering how to donate food and making food donations to our organization and then very importantly at this time is making financial contributions to our organization to be able to keep our work going he noted If you are in need of food assistance you can also use the Share Food Venture s website to find food near you The post Region s largest hunger relief organization loses about million in encouragement due to federal cuts appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY