Saturday, April 26, 2025

Help Local Food Pantries, Contact Congress

               Dear readers, our local food pantry, the North Hunterdon Food Pantry, recently received some bad news. Due to severe cuts in funding of the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation we will lose access to low-cost meats and cheeses. Additionally, cuts to the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, will mean we will lose access to fresh fruits and vegetables come October.

              We make sure 30 families, 25+ kids, a little over 100 people all told, make it to the end of the month without going hungry. We won’t stop doing that, but these cuts make our mission all the harder, and our offerings all the more meager.

              I imagine our little pantry isn’t the only one being hit by these changes. Over 45 million Americans are food insecure, their struggles have just gotten worse. Being poor in America just got harder.

              Please contact your representative and ask them to restore funding to the USDA’s “The Emergency Food Assistance Program Commodity Credit Corporation” and freeze cuts to the “Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.”

              Please check with your local food pantry or bank to see what you can do to help; find out what their immediate needs are, as well as what the staple foods in your community are. If you’re a hunter, connect with local hunters against hunger type group, if you are a farmer or gardener find your local gleaning network.

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