Food pantries across the country are feeling the deep impact of cuts made to government funding for food banks. In Door County, while pantries have been impacted, they are working hard to round up donations to keep their shelves stocked to ensure that those in need in the community are still able to put food on the table.
The Washington Island Community Health Program Food Pantry (WICHP) has been directly affected by the changes in federal funding. The pantry is government funded under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and receives USDA Community Foods to distribute once a month. Along with the initial challenge of being on an island, pantry co-manager Dan Westbrook says the pantry is feeling the impact from the cutbacks.
“We have seen a decrease in our supply, but we’re a much smaller pantry up here and service fewer people,” said Westbrook, “but we’re making up for it with local contributions to our pantry, both in terms of actual food and monetary contributions that we then use to purchase food from the local grocery store here on the island to keep our pantry stocked.”
While they still provide food to the same number of people, the amount of food received from the USDA commodity is significantly lower than previous distributions. The decrease is seen in the amount of food that is distributed, but more so in what is available. Westbrook said there have not been as many proteins included, especially items like fish, pork, and chicken, which they rely on the USDA to provide.
In Sturgeon Bay, Feed and Clothe My People is experiencing donation stalls. The pantry is a non-profit, so while they are not directly impacted by government funding, demand has been slowly rising and supply is falling, something that pantry coordinator Ashley Madson expects to continue over the summer months.
“We definitely have seen our donations go down; even our cash donations have gone down so it definitely has affected us in some ways,” said Madson, “I think with it being nicer out and kids getting out of school, I think eventually we’re going to get hit pretty hard.”
While Madson projects shortages, especially as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been reduced for recipients and the WIC Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program is delayed, she says the pantry’s goal is to help as many people as possible.
“We are trying our best to put our pantries together and make sure that families have exactly what they need,” said Madson.
Those interested in helping can contact any of our local food pantries to make a monetary or food donation. The most needed items are perishables, including meats, dairy products, and fresh produce.
