Food banks across Northeast Ohio are scrambling to figure out how to make up for cuts in federal support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank, which serves Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Ashtabula, Ashland and Richland counties, said the USDA, through its Commodity Credit Corporation, was canceling 553,000 pounds of food, valued at $1 million, set to be delivered between April and July. It includes milk, eggs, chicken, pork and turkey.
Appearing on Ideastream Public Media's the "Sound of Ideas," Greater Cleveland Food Bank President and CEO Kristin Warzocha said the cancellation comes on the heels of cuts to the Local Food Assistance Purchase program.
"We were notified a few weeks ago that that program would be coming to an end as of June 30th, that was another million pounds of food we had been planning on this year," Warzocha said.
The new cuts would have a broad impact on Northeast Ohio.
The Akron Canton Regional Foodbank serves Summit, Stark, Carroll, Holmes, Medina, Portage, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties. Akron Canton Regional Foodbank President and CEO Dan Flowers said his foodbank will lose a million pounds of food through the new cuts, on top of 450,000 pounds that will be eliminated under the Local Food Purchase Assistance program.
“Facing these cuts at a time where we have very significant needs being expressed in our pantry network is of great concern," Flowers said. "This is a really big slice of some of the best food we get. You can't just do a food drive and make up for something like this.”
Flowers said proposed cuts at the state level in Gov. Mike DeWine's budget would result in an additional loss of 1.5 million pounds of food for his region.
“Last year was our biggest year in Akron, more people came in last year than at any point during the pandemic and the same was true in 2023,” said Flowers. “We had two really, really big years, so emerging out of the pandemic with inflation as it has been with food prices where they have been, more people have been coming to see us anyway."
And Flowers said that's true for food banks around the state and across the country.
Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio serves Lorain, Erie and Huron counties. Julie Chase-Morefield, the president of Second Harvest, said during the last fiscal, her organization saw a 32% increase in the number of times households that were visiting a food pantry.
"This is not replaceable funding. And even to go to our donors, our local foundations who are amazing, to try to cover this huge number is very, very difficult."
