12-04-2025
Second Harvest Food Bank needs support amid federal funding cuts
ELMWOOD, La. (WGNO) — Federal funding cuts are now impacting charities, like Second Harvest Food Bank. Leaders of the nonprofit say they're going to need help from the public, so families don't go hungry.
37 loads of food expected to arrive at the food bank will not be coming because of cuts made to federal food programs.'That's over 600,000 pounds of food, which has a value to us of $1.1 million,' explained John Sillars, the chief strategy officer for Second Harvest Food Bank.
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Sillars says their food bank also relied on a program that allowed them to purchase fresh food from local farmers.'What we learned was, that program was being canceled nationwide, and so that is impacting us,' said Sillars. 'It's impacting the farmers who we were buying food from.' These cuts are happening as the amount of people experiencing food insecurity in south Louisiana increases to nearly 440,000.'Maybe it's a child who is, you know, it's Friday today, and they are leaving at the end of the day, and they're not sure when they're going to be eating over the weekend, if they're going to be eating over the weekend, because really, their main source of food is the food they get from school,' said goes on to say they've budgeted $500,000 to purchase food in the next few months, and they're leaning on other sources as well.'We're investing in food sourcing, staff and partner infrastructure, and then we're also depending on advocacy,' said donations are always welcome, and collection bins are located outside the facility on Edwards Avenue in Elmwood. People can also volunteer.'They can come help plate meals or pack boxes, and if they really want to help us out, they can call their federal and state representatives to express their support for food assistance in south Louisiana,' said Sillars.
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