2 weeks Ago By JACKSON KIMBALL [email protected]
Ellen Holleman, director of Hamilton food bank, Haven House, said that her nonprofit and other food pantries across the country are preparing for the impact of a nationwide $500 million cut to USDA funding. “We are planning to find some way to continue to feed the people in our community as we always have for the last forty-odd years,” Holleman said. “We will find a way to get the food that people need.
” In early April, the Trump administration slashed the Common Credit Corporation (CCC) component of the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The $500 million was enacted last December to help rural food banks and farmers “deal with supply chain challenges and elevated food costs by supporting food purchases and TEFAP eligible recipient agencies’ (ERAs’) operational costs for the storage and distribution of the additional food purchases,” according to the USDA website . Holleman said that although right now there was, “no predicting” when the cuts would affect operations at the nonprofit, she knew it would be “sooner than later.
” Hamilton food bank, Haven House, continues to provide food for Ravalli County despite $500 million being cut from USDA food bank funding in early April. Haven House has been in operation since 1982 and, according to Holleman, provides around 4,000 boxes of food a year to the community. Holleman said that although the food bank “has been lucky” to receive a generous helping of community support, the unpredictable nature of future funding and the rising prices of food would influence operations going forward.
“This is not the best of times,” Holleman said. “Everything is getting more expensive and although the stores would like to be very nice to us, like they’ve always been, they’ve got to make money too. We’re gonna have to do some fundraising and get more money.
” Holleman said that the Montana Food Bank Network, a statewide collective Haven House is affiliated with, are “working desperately” to prepare for the possible financial impact. “We’ve got 73 network partners in 35 counties across the state,” Montana Food Bank Network Programs Manager Jesse Schraufnagel said. “Of the total TEFAP program percentage that we received in 2024, roughly 40% of that total was specifically CCC funded.
For our entire network across the whole state, TEFAP accounts for 20% of our total food distribution. Of that 20%, 40% is CCC and 60% is TEFAP entitlement." Haven House volunteers stock shelves and prepare meal boxes for community members on Wednesday, April 23.
Schraufnagel told the Ravalli Republic that because of the network’s partnership with the nonprofit, Feeding America and other private vendors, the cuts to CCC spending would not cripple the sustainability of Montana food banks. “There’s a number of other states that almost entirely rely on just TEFAP to supplement their food pantry partners,” Schraufnagel said. “Us, not quite as much.
It’s still going to impact us but by having 80% of our food coming through donations and purchase and not TEFAP, I think we’ll be able to weather it a bit better.” Schraufnagel said that to prepare for the erasure of funding, the network was looking to increase food being supplied by Feeding America and other co-ops/private vendors. He said that the increased assistance would account for the nearly $2.
5 million dollars usually covered by CCC funding. “We’re kind of unique in the food banking world in the sense that we source truckloads of food through Feeding America Network and our other private vendors and then we make those products available to purchase at no markup for all of our partner agencies,” Schraufnagel said. “These cuts won’t impact that at all, so we’re going to continue to do that and we’re going to continue to source additional truckloads of food to make up for the loss.
” With the uncertain impact of looming largescale budget cuts on the horizon, Pantry Partners volunteers continue to stock shelves and analyze their inventory on April 23. Although Schaufnagel was optimistic about the network’s ability to account for the loss in CCC funding, some Ravalli County food banks still had concerns about their long-term sustainability. Maryelyn Scholz, president of the board at the Stevensville food bank Pantry Partners said that CCC cuts would account for about a 13% loss in their funding.
Pantry Partners is partnered with the Montana Food Bank Network and receives their TEFAP allotment through them. “If we were to hold steady with the population we have now, we could make that work,” Scholz said. “But, we’ve been getting four to five new people coming back and every one of them is saying, ‘We’ve lost our housing.
We’ve lost our job.’” Scholz said that because of their increasing patronage, when funding cuts go into effect Pantry Partners would have to “rely on their reserves and the community” to feed those in need. “This is a huge cut,” Scholz said.
“But you have to come up with an alternative. You have to feed these folks. We’ll be feeding more and more of them as this continues.
” Stevensville food bank, Pantry Partners, prepares for funding cuts as the Trump administration wipes out $500 million in USDA assistance. Scholz said that although the nonprofit had already received lots of support from community members and local agencies, she was still concerned about the future sustainability of their resources and the impact CCC cuts would have on the local economy. “Come Thanksgiving and Christmas, good grief,” Scholz said.
“I try to think positively but my greatest fear is our need is going to outweigh what we have...
You have to remember that this not only affects food banks. It’s like a trickle up economy because now the farmers who provided these things will no longer have a market for these things.” In regard to farmers being affected by CCC cuts, Schraufnagel told the Ravalli Republic that the impact may not be as dire as Scholz suggested.
“We’re anticipating with the tariffs that, potentially, some of this food gets purchased by the USDA and put back into the TEFAP program,” Schraufnagel said. “That’s what happened the last time Trump was in office and they had their tariffs enacted.” Pantry Partners personnel load boxes for delivery on Wednesday, April 23.
Schraufnegel emphasized that the outcomes of the current cuts to USDA funding were still unclear and that the network “could not say for certain” what would happen. In light of their shared uncertainties, Scholz and Holleman both expressed gratitude for their community and said that donations and assistance from farmers and others had been significant. “This is one of the most generous places I have ever lived in my life,” Scholz said.
“People have already called and said, ‘What do you need? What can we do?’” “Community farmers in the area are starting to bring in their early growing products also,” Holleman said. “I think we’re going to get a lot of support just from the people in the surrounding area who are doing such a great job of producing these things.” Jackson Kimball is the local government reporter for the Ravalli Republic.
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