South Jersey Food Bank warns $1 billion in federal funding cuts will hurt local families
At the Food Bank of South Jersey, volunteers were busy Wednesday filling boxes with food for its 300 community partners.
One of those partners is the Cherry Hill Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Doors opened Wednesday for the monthly food pantry, and officials said the need is steadily growing.
"A week ago, we had a call from a person who needed food right away, so we were able to allow him to come in and get the food at that particular time," said Calvin Lester.
The Food Bank of South Jersey said it distributed a record 23 million pounds of food in 2024, and it's on track to surpass that number this year.
"Right now, one in nine people in South Jersey are food insecure, and one in seven children; that's unacceptable," said Fred Wasiak, CEO of the Food Bank of South Jersey.
U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross, a Democrat, met with food bank volunteers and sounded the alarm, saying the president's Big Beautiful Bill, signed in July, significantly cuts SNAP benefits and food programs. Norcross said the need in the community will only grow larger.
"For a child not to have a meal is not who we are in America," Norcross said.
According to Norcross, 42 million Americans are at risk of losing food assistance, which includes 97,000 people in his district, including Camden County and parts of Burlington and Gloucester counties.
"The idea of taking food literally off the table so we can give tax breaks to billionaires, it just doesn't make sense to the average American," Norcross said.
U.S. Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a Republican, painted a different picture.
In a statement, he told CBS News Philadelphia: "The COVID-19 Pandemic is over, and has been for several years now, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that the temporary programs — largely intended to address supply chain disruptions during the early days of the pandemic — are sunsetting the way they were always intended to."
"Let's stop scaring people by playing the same old partisan political games and tell the truth," Van Drew continued. "The Emergency Food Assistance Program remains intact and fully funded, as does the National School Lunch Program and all of the other food distribution and assistance programs that have always been there to help everyone from school children to low-income seniors and everyone in between."
The food bank said South Jersey will see major impacts in the weeks and months to come.
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