20-02-2025
Area food banks hope state reconsiders food bank funding cuts
CLEVELAND (WJW) — This is bread day.
Pallets of near expired loaves of bread are packed up and sent out to hundreds of food pantries across the six county region served by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
Last year, 32 million dollars from the state of Ohio helped Cleveland and 11 other regional food banks collect food from Ohio farmers and other sources to feed millions of Ohio families.
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But Governor Dewine's latest executive budget would take away more than $7,000,000 million, roughly a quarter of state funding for all regional food banks.
'Last year the food bank served 426,000 people in our six-county territory, 100,000 of those people turned to us for the first time ever.'
Karen Ponza with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank says any decrease in funding would hamper the help that they provide, especially at a time when inflation is hitting families and food bank operations at the same time.
'We're going to work hand in hand with our officials both on the state level and federal level to ensure that we continue to get that much needed food,' Ponza said.
And Cleveland's food bank is not alone.
The Akron Canton Regional Food Bank helps supply food to many rural areas, and the costs of transportation and the demand have also gone up.
Their director says they will always work hard to fulfill their commitment to the community, but uncertainty over state and potential federal funding is alarming.
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'We operate based on the donations from wholesalers distributors, manufacturers and of course government sources, and if we were to have a 15 to 20 percent hole blasted in our supply chain we would have a really really hard time filling that which eventually means we would give less food to the same amount of people,' Akron Canton Food Bank Director Dan Flowers said.
The money from the state of Ohio helps the regional food banks mostly collect produce from Ohio farmers.
A lot is perfectly edible food that isn't purchased by markets because it's too small or doesn't present well in stores.
A cut means food banks buy less and support famers less.
And as the budget process begins, this is a message that the state's food banks want to bring home to lawmakers.
'We really are a critical part of community infrastructure, so by funding food and making sure it's on the shelves, we're bringing people in and providing a whole host of wrap around services as well. So I think it's a win-win-win for everyone involved so we're looking forward to working with the state of Ohio to restore these cuts and find additional support,' Ohio Association of Food Banks Executive Director Joree Novotny said.
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Even though the state budget discussions are in their early stages, Novotny says they're encouraging people to call or write their state lawmakers to reconsider any potential cuts.
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