Hoosier Hills Food Bank will not receive over 62,000 pounds of food after some of its federal funding was suddenly cancelled.
President Trump has made large federal funding cuts trying to curb government spending and reduce the national debt. The USDA announced last week $500 million in food purchases for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) were cancelled.
Last year, TEFAP provided over 22 percent of the food Hoosier Hills distributed. CCC-funded TEFAP accounts for 9 percent of that.
This means the food bank will not receive at least eight food orders expected between March and July.
“This is very high quality food that we've come to rely on to help meet the needs of our agencies and our neighbors,” said Julio Alonso, executive director and CEO of Hoosier Hills Food Bank. “Last year that funding provided about 9 percent of the food that we distributed, over 500,000 pounds.”
Hoosier Hills Food Bank distributes over 5 million pounds of food annually to over 100 non-profit organizations in seven Indiana counties. Those agencies serve about 52,000 households a month, according to the organization’s website.
“We are still hopeful that the administration will redirect this funding back to the TEFAP program perhaps through a different program of their own,” Alonso said. “It’s not necessarily unusual for changes like this to be made when a new administration comes into office. But we don’t have any confirmation of that yet. We don’t know if this food is gone for good, or if it may resurface in a different form.”
The cuts have been rumored for weeks. Alonso learned of the cuts last week from Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks and pantries.
“This is a little bit more unusual, because the cuts have been so sudden and so drastic, and we didn't really have warning about it,” Alonso said.
The CCC-TEFAP funding is only one of the food banks’ funding streams, but it is a significant one.
Most of the food at Hoosier Hills is donated through things like its community food drives or its food rescue program, where food that would otherwise be wasted is collected and redistributed.
Still, the food bank has to find ways to make up for the lost funds.
“We are trying to raise as much money as possible to bank for food purchasing so that we can do that and get food on hand to make up for these losses and any potential future losses,” Alonso said. “But also, we are working with our national partner, Feeding America, and encouraging folks to reach out to their legislators and let them know the importance of these federal nutrition programs.”
According to Feeding America, over 950,000 people in Indiana face hunger. That is one out of seven Hoosiers. And the need for food banks is growing.
“In addition to the food that comes directly to us, there are other potential cuts that may impact us in terms of the numbers of people we see, because a lot of folks depend on SNAP benefits in order to get food on their tables,” Alonso said. “A lot of folks depend on Medicaid for their health care and health insurance. If those things are cut, then those folks are going to be in a position where they're likely to more to need a food pantry.”
