The US Department of Agriculture stated that the cuts were made to “return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives.”
The stoppage of the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) will cost Feeding America West Michigan approximately 500,000 pounds of food, or nearly 400,000 meals.
“We were expecting about 27 truckloads of food from that particular program between now and July, and we’ve been told that those are not coming,” said Ken Estelle, President and CEO of Feeding America West Michigan.
This means that Feeding America’s mobile food pantries will either use their own funds to purchase food or rely on larger donations.
The Salvation Army of Marquette claims to use very little federal funding. However, a 12% increase in usage in just three months has prompted Cari Detmers, the company’s Director of Development, to seek local assistance.
“Because of that increase, and you double that increase in the food costs, every food pantry, even aside from the federal funding, needs local help,” Detmers told me.
Approximately $660 million was cut from the Local Food for Schools Program. According to the website of the United States Department of Agriculture, the program assists states in purchasing domestic, local food for schools and childcare facilities.
The United States Department of Agriculture cut approximately $420 million from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, which supports smaller, local farms. Estelle has been dissatisfied with the communication from the top down on this.
“We were told in late February that it was no longer going to reimbursed,” according to Estelle. “That program was recently reinstated. So that program will now run until September 30th of this year.
Detmers believes that if federal funding is limited, yoopers will band together once more to feed those in need.
“Yoopers will rally. We did this during COVID. “We did it after COVID, when the recession was approaching and everyone’s food prices were rising,” Detmers explained. “This community will weather that federal flux way better than some other communities I would know.”
Detmers believes that if everyone bought an extra $50 worth of groceries to drop off at their preferred pantry, they could help feed someone.
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