In response to recently announced cuts to federal nutrition programs, President & CEO Julia Tedesco released the following statement on April 3 as Foodlink gathered hundreds of food bank members for its annual ‘Nourish’ conference held at the Wegmans Conference Center.

The $500 million cut recently announced by the USDA will result in a significant reduction of healthy, American-grown product for the emergency food system nationwide, including right here in the Rochester area. The cancellation of “Commodity Credit Corporation” goods as part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) directly impacts 17 truckloads of food for our food bank – totaling about $655,000 worth of food and an additional $42,500 in funding.  

The timing of this cut hurts for three main reasons:  

(1) Food insecurity remains at an all-time high, and it impacts more than 150,000 people in our region. Last year, visits to our network of food pantries and meal programs increased 40% when compared with the prior year. Feeding America will release updated figures in the coming weeks, however we know from the USDA’s own reporting that the upward trend will continue;  

(2) Food prices remain high, forcing families across our region to make impossible choices between purchasing food and other basic needs; 

 (3) This is precisely the time of year when funding and available products from New York State’s largest anti-hunger program – the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) – begins to decrease. Foodlink normally relies on the USDA’s TEFAP program to ensure our shelves remain well stocked heading into the summer months, when food insecurity often spikes;  

While this is a setback for our food bank, we are doing what we can to address this and will ensure that all of our partners and those whom they serve have an adequate supply of healthy food.  

We will continue to advocate for programs that feed our neighbors – particularly SNAP, which we anticipate lawmakers to target next. Any future cuts to SNAP will surely have more wide-ranging impact on our food bank, and our ability to keep up with demand. We urge everyone to reach out to their elected representatives to let them know that cuts to federal nutrition programs will force millions of Americans into poverty, and impact the collective health and wealth of our community. 

At Thursday’s conference, Foodlink welcomed Vince Hall, Chief Government Relations Officer for Feeding America, to Rochester to deliver a virtual keynote address to the 400+ people in attendance.

Hall recently spoke to USA Today about the federal cuts, saying: “The reality is that the food banking system is stressed to the breaking point right now because we’re seeing record-high demand and diminished resources … Folks who came to us during the pandemic have found it impossible to ease out of dependency on food banks because inflation has made so many of their monthly budget essentials more expensive than ever.”

Deb McLean, with the Geneseo Groveland Food Pantry, also expressed concern about the cuts.

“People are nervous.  The number of new clients that visit our food pantry doubled last month and we are seeing a significant increase in the number of seniors as well.  Funding cuts to nutrition programs will not only make it more difficult for families to afford the healthy food they need, but will also impact our ability to serve the growing number of households.  As anyone who goes to the grocery store knows, the cost of food continues to rise.  Increasing costs, coupled with the increased demand that any funding cuts will surely generate, will likely mean that we will need to re-evaluate our service.  In the meantime, we continue to monitor the situation and remain hopeful.”