10-04-2025
Local food distributors expect more demand after cuts to CAPK food bank deliveries
The local impact of federal budget cutbacks may soon spread as distributors of free food to Kern's neediest families anticipate greater demand following a halt in certain deliveries to the county's largest food bank.
At least two nonprofits that weren't directly impacted by the government spending cuts said Wednesday they worry about being unable to make up a supply gap resulting from last month's reduction in food shipments to Community Action Partnership of Kern.
"There's only so much we can do. We just don't have the hands and the capacity," said Executive Director Debbie Powers at Golden Empire Gleaners, whose food gathering and distribution work feeds about 175 families per day, not including 20 senior-sack programs it serves in Buttonwillow, Delano, Lake Isabella and other areas, totaling about 2 million pounds of food per year.
Bret Sill shares her concern as founder and director of Morning Star Fresh Food Ministry, which gives out about 600 boxes per month of fresh meats and vegetables despite, like the Gleaners, receiving no federal food or financial support.
"If CAPK's getting cut back, they (food recipients) are probably going to come (to) us to get food," he said, adding that Morning Star already has to turn away families looking to join the distribution list. "We don't have unlimited funds … to do that."
So far, neither organization has been contacted by people reporting they have been unable to receive enough food from CAPK. But Powers and Sill both said they're already expecting phone calls.
Last month CAPK sounded the alarm about the cancellation of 13 full truckloads of food that supplied eggs, milk, cheese and meat to an estimated 5,000 families across Kern County.
Calling the situation a crisis in the making, CAPK said the disruption stemmed from the Trump administration's decision to trim the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual budget by at least $1 billion.
The local nonprofit noted it keeps two to six months' worth of food on hand and wasn't expecting to run out of supplies. But given that food lines lately have been twice as long as they were two years prior, CAPK said last month it would need to find new sources of support beyond food drives and gathering of supplies from local grocery stores and restaurants.
CAPK gives out about 22.5 million pounds of food per year from various sources. It has projected its supplies will shrink by about a third because of recent reductions to at least two USDA programs, the Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Local Food for Schools initiative.
Lawmakers have blasted the cutbacks. A letter California's entire Democratic congressional delegation signed and sent March 31 to the USDA called for reversing the cancellations. They said the halt in deliveries has hit 49 food banks across the state, affecting 6 million residents and more than 600 California farmers whose food the USDA buys and distributes.
'These programs provide critical support to farmers and food producers in California while ensuring access to nutritious, locally sourced food for families, students and communities, which we feel are in line with this administration's stated goals to provide more opportunities for Americans to eat healthy, support farmers and boost domestic demand for produce,' the letter stated.
Powers said Gleaners sends out half a dozen trucks per day to gather soon-to-expire food from Costco and grocery stores. It has scheduled a food drive from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the north entrance of Valley Plaza mall.
She said she has already been asked whether Gleaners would be able to help make up the difference from CAPK's supply cuts. Her answer was that her nonprofit doesn't have much ability to expand its capacity, though it is trying to do so by building a racking system in its warehouse.
The nonprofit might be able to boost its productivity as much as 14% to feed 200 families per day, Power said, adding that probably won't be enough.
"We do talk about it," she said, referring to helping CAPK meet demand. "Because people are, like, what's your future? What's your plan?"
Morning Star's food supplies generally come from donations and discounts the nonprofit gets from local butchers and farmers, Sill said. The food then goes to churches and other organizations, some of which contribute money to help cover expenses.
Since the pandemic, the nonprofit has had to stop adding names to its waiting list, Sill said. But since learning of the delivery cutbacks at CAPK, he has been expecting to receive calls from people hoping to begin receiving food boxes, which he noted contain 6 to 10 pounds of meat and 20 to 25 pounds of vegetables and generally sell for $45 each.
