MISSOULA — The Missoula Food Bank and Community Center has recently seen cuts to its federal funding, like many other food banks across the country, with the anticipation that more cuts will be coming.
“This particular source of funding, TEFAP, is a source of federal funds that provides food for our store, and that's specifically in our SOAR program. And so last year we received about 228,000 pounds of food from this program alone,” said Missoula Food Bank executive director Amy Allison.
The cuts they have seen recently are to the funding they received from the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a Biden-era program that provided funding to food banks across the country to put more fresh produce and nutritional food from local farmers into food banks.
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TEFAP funds were responsible for funding the food bank's SOAR program, which provided food to children and senior citizens.
Allison said that they operate on a yearly budget of $3.5 million, with 20% of their budget coming from federal sources.
Under the Trump administration, the USDA has halted the delivery of $500 million to food banks across the country.
Watch related coverage: Federal food assistance cuts impact Montana Food Bank Network
“Ultimately, those cuts will really end up being about a reduction in 91,000 pounds of food, which is around $180,000 that we'll really need to make up for because we continue to see rising demand in our community and are seeing unprecedented numbers on a regular basis in our store and in the rest of our programs,” said Allison.
The number of people that the Missoula Food Bank serves has increased at an exponential rate over the past year, and the recent cuts have left them in a position where they will need to pivot to other sources of funding to meet the needs that they are seeing.
“Last year we served 24,400 people just in our store program. So that is just one program alone of ours,” explained Allison.
“We’ve certainly already started making decisions like that as we look to the possibility of cuts throughout this past couple of months. So that means really thinking about what are our priorities, what are the kind of nice-to-haves, and then what are the things that we absolutely want to make sure we provide,” Allison said.
The USDA released the following statement to MTN:
"While the pandemic is over, USDA has not and will not lose focus on its core mission of strengthening food security, supporting agricultural markets, and ensuring access to nutritious foods. For example, last month, USDA released over half a billion in previously obligated funds for LFPA, LFPA for Tribes, and LFS to fulfill existing commitments and support ongoing local food purchases. Additionally, USDA recently announced $261 million in available fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts, made possible through Section 32 purchases. These foods go directly to food banks and other charitable organizations. States are eligible to receive products including tomatoes, grapes, pistachios, asparagus, apricots, strawberries, and peaches, among many others.
While the Biden-era TEFAP slush fund was terminated, the program continues to operate uninterrupted, as originally intended by Congress, with more than $166 million spent in recent months to connect families with food."
The Missoula Food Bank says that regardless of what cuts may or may not be coming, they'll be sure to keep providing food to those in need.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated with a response from the USDA. Additionally, the SOAR program is incorrect, it is called the store program. Missoula Food Bank and Community Center has a storefront contained within the building, similar in layout and function to a grocery store.
