'Got to feed these people': Pantry leaders say federal cuts will impact services, cause food insecurity

Yahoo

26-04-2025

Editor's note: Federal Fallout is a Tribune-Democrat news series addressing the potential local impact of funding cuts.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Every fourth Wednesday of the month, Interfaith Community Food Pantry President David Rager gathers his volunteers in a circle and – similar to a coach – gives them a pep talk, directions and updates before they get to work packing boxes of food.
'We've got to feed these people,' Rager said.
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For more than 10 years, the food pantry, based in the former hall of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Jackson Township, has supported people in 10 area communities with supplemental food. Every fourth Saturday of the month, hundreds of vehicles line up in the church lot for the distribution.
Each box has 22 items, ranging from cereal and pre-packaged sides to canned goods such as soup and vegetables to a cake mix. Visitors also receive 20 pounds of fresh produce every month, plus milk, bread and fresh meat. April's boxes include butter, salmon and a pork roast.
'I try to get four to five good meals, because we're here to substitute what they get from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the government,' Rager said.
Federal Fallout | Interfaith Community Food Bank
Interfaith Community Food Bank President Dave Rager, of Mundy's Corner, speaks about potential federal funding cuts to the food distribution center in Jackson Township on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
He said the food pantry serves roughly 220 families per month, with two to six people in each unit. The number has steadily increased in the past few years, he said.
'You've got to come see it on a Saturday to appreciate it,' volunteer Stan Popich said. He added that the 'thank yous' the volunteers receive are overwhelming.
Everyone is gracious, volunteer Dave Verba said.
'It's amazing how many people look forward to it every month,' he said.
Verba, who directs traffic during distributions, said that the volunteers build relationships with the people who attend the distributions, and when some don't show up, they get concerned about what may have happened.
'Really rely on it'
The Interfaith Community Food Pantry's operations are funded through state and federal grants, including from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture through the United Way of the Southern Alleghenies, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, private donations and efforts of the Conemaugh Area Ministerium.
Federal Fallout | Interfaith Community Food Bank
Steve Kauffman, of Vinco, stacks food distribution boxes during a packaging day at Interfaith Community Food Bank in Jackson Township on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
Rager said with recent cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture funding streams and potential slashes to SNAP benefits, he's worried about the community.
'I think right now we have a lot more elderly people, and they really rely on it,' he said.
Rager added that the pantry assists a local school, too, and he's concerned about how decreases in grant dollars could impact area children.
'If they close the grants or shut the grants down, the only thing we have is through donations,' he said. 'You have to wait and see.'
In the past two months, the USDA has paused roughly $500,000 that supports the Emergency Food Assistance Program, a nutrition program that purchases U.S. commodities for emergency food providers, and terminated this year's allocation for the Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement programs that help food banks and schools buy produce from local farmers.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit that works with marginalized communities, cutting the LFPA and LFS programs translates to the loss of roughly $1 billion in funding.
Additionally, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has reported President Donald Trump's administration has suggested decreasing potentially hundreds of billions in Agriculture Committee allotments throughout the next 10 years by moving partial funding of the federal SNAP program to the states.
Federal Fallout | Interfaith Community Food Bank
Patty Rager, volunteer of Mundy's Corner, organizes canned goods during a food distribution box packaging day at Interfaith Community Food Bank in Jackson Township on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
'Forcing states to help pay SNAP benefits would allow Congress to enact unpopular cuts while making someone else – state governments – either pay the difference or decide which participants lose food benefits,' the center said.
'Advocate alongside us'
The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which serves 11 counties, including Cambria and Somerset, will lose funding because of USDA downsizing, officials there said.
'This funding impacts our main inventory,' communications specialist Christa Johnson said. 'LFPA funding and TEFAP (Commodity Credit Corp.) bonus helps us purchase 6.3 million pounds of food. That's 13% of the total food we are currently distributing.'
Last year, the Pittsburgh center provided 48 million pounds of food to the regions it serves.
The cuts to the local food purchasing program will mean a loss of $1.5 million the group has spent with local dairies, farmers and other agriculture producers, food bank Director Colleen Young confirmed.
Those dollars have covered a majority of milk and egg purchases throughout the past two years, Johnson said.
'The economic impact to local dairies, egg producers and farmers is not fully understood yet,' Johnson said.
To help combat these issues, the Pittsburgh group is requesting 'anyone who cares about food insecurity and what the food bank is doing to advocate alongside us,' Young said.
'In a wait and see'
Staff are also working with state officials and undergoing targeted fundraising to offset potential cuts.
'Our biggest priority is to make sure our partner organizations who are working with the community are getting what they need,' Young said. 'We are working really hard to make sure the impact of this does not fall on people who need this assistance.'
She said that if the organization were 'to try to replace all the food we lost through these cuts, it would cost more than $5 million annually at these food prices.'
Anthony Consiglio, Society of St. Vincent de Paul Altoona-Johnstown executive director, said the group's Department of Agriculture funding is secure for this cycle, which ends with the fiscal year in June, but it's unclear what the future holds.
A lot of the produce the society receives comes from the Pittsburgh food bank.
'As far as cuts, we're kind of in a wait and see,' he said. 'No one is sure what will happen and who it will affect.'
St. Vincent de Paul has one food pantry in Blair County and four in Cambria County. Consiglio said that, in Cambria County alone, the group serves between 70 and 150 families per month, or 120 to 400 people per month.
He doesn't foresee any SVDP pantries closing as a result of these changes, but Consiglio said he has heard from people who frequent the food banks that they are worried about their SNAP benefits.
'Everything is so confusing right now,' Consiglio said.
According to Feeding America, more than 50 million people in the country relied on food pantries, community organizations and food banks for food assistance in 2023.
USDA data show that 13.5%, or 18 million, households in the country were food-insecure during that time period.
In Cambria County, more than 17,000 people, 13.2% of residents, are food-insecure, and 55% are below the SNAP threshold, according to Feeding America. Nearly 9,000 people in Somerset County, or 11.8% of the population, are facing hunger and 56% are below the SNAP threshold, the group reports.
'Fresh, locally grown'
Gov. Josh Shapiro has appealed the USDA's decision to eliminate the LFPA program, and said he is committed to fighting on this matter.
If the decision is not reversed, a statement from his administration said, the state is ready 'to pursue further legal action to safeguard vital revenue streams for farmers and ensure uninterrupted food access for residents.'
Shapiro said: 'Pennsylvania farmers do the noble work of putting food on our table – and for the last three years, they have been paid to provide fresh, local food to food banks across our commonwealth as part of a successful federal initiative. But earlier (in March), we received notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the Trump administration had decided to cancel our agreement.
'As a result of this unlawful action, 189 Pennsylvania farms will lose a critical source of revenue – and 14 food banks across the commonwealth will lose access to local, fresh food. I've directed (state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding) to immediately appeal the USDA's decision to unlawfully terminate this agreement and demand that the federal government honor their obligations under the agreement we signed just four months ago.'
According to his administration, throughout the past two years, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture provided more than $28 million in federal funding from the LFPA program to local farmers across the state. In return, food banks have helped feed their most vulnerable neighbors and received fresh, local food from Pennsylvania farmers.
'The same program was set to provide $13 million over the next three years to support the purchase of more fresh, locally grown food for food banks,' according to the Shapiro administration.
Additionally, a USDA release from January 2023 says the agency's Agricultural Marketing Service signed an agreement with the state 'for more than $6.8 million to increase their purchase of nutritious, local foods for school meal programs' through the now-canceled Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program.