Montgomery County, Pa.
Montgomery County food pantries are bracing for impact as cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture food assistance funding are reducing food supplies at the same time the number of local families needing assistance is increasing dramatically, area nonprofit managers say.
“We’re already seeing a system that is very taxed,” said Shannon Isaacs, executive director of the MontCo Anti-Hunger Network. “I’m very concerned about long lines at food pantries, and I’m very concerned about food shortages at food pantries. For the people who we serve … food security is a keystone issue.”
The MontCo Anti-Hunger Network has 73 food pantries under its umbrella in its battle to address local food insecurity. The nonprofit receives around $200,000 in federal funding each year from Montgomery County, but Isaacs and others note that cuts to a number of programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program are dramatically affecting food supplies and families’ needs.
The USDA has already paused 50 percent of TEFAP funding, which provides $500 million to food pantries in the U.S. each year, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.
“I believe we will see serious food shortages at pantries and food banks, since the federal emergency food access program is already being so dramatically cut,” Issacs said. “Without private philanthropy’s intervention, many people in Montgomery County, including children, will face really impossible choices without access to adequate emergency food.”
‘In Shock’
Cindy Wedholm, executive director of the Ambler-based Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard, agreed.
“I think everybody in the food pantry and social services world around us is just in shock, and trying to really wrap our heads around it,” Wedholm said. “Because we just seem to be the the target of a lot of the cuts that we’re going to be feeling and we are dealing with families that are going to be experiencing those.”
Wedholm had reservations surrounding the food assistance program’s outlook. While the food pantry doesn’t receive federal funding, Wedholm acknowledged they’re going to be affected by supplies.
“TEFAP food might not be as plentiful, because that is some of the pockets that might be targeted,” she said, noting “[we’re] going to probably end up having to supplement that with purchasing our own food.”
Philabundance Funding Cuts
Gov. Josh Shapiro blasted the federal agriculture department’s decision to cancel Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program monies. The three-year $13 million agreement was set to benefit 189 farms and 14 food pantries throughout the state. Shapiro threatened to take legal action against the federal government during a visit earlier this week to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.
Sheldon Good, Lansdale-based Manna on Main Street’s director of development and strategic direction, anticipated funding cuts could have widespread consequences.
“While it’s hard to pinpoint the precise impact on Manna due to the canceling of LFPA funding, we are already seeing a reduction in food being donated to Manna from several sources,” Good said in an email response to questions from The Reporter. “Sadly, cuts to federal food assistance not only negatively impact Manna but also our regional food banks, local farmers and other businesses, and people in need in our communities.”
Many local food pantries receive food from regional distributors such as Philabundance and the Share Food Program, which operate out of Philadelphia. Philabundance is “going to be losing about $1.5 million, about 18 percent of our food-sourcing budget,” Chief Strategy Officer Dorothy Wong said in a CBS News report.
“I think the most impact we’ve seen directly so far has been a loss of produce support from Philabundance. I know that their federal funding was cut drastically, and we have seen that,” said Food Pantry Manager Clarice Foster at Keystone Opportunity Center, which serves the Souderton area. “We used to receive 5,500 pounds from them a week; that dropped down to 4,500 pounds and now it’s all the way down to 3,500 pounds a week.”
Post-COVID Reaction
Those actions could have a negative impact on the area’s most vulnerable, food pantry leaders say. Wedholm recalled a “huge onslaught of programs available to clients during COVID,” but “then all those programs are gone, and so unfortunately people are back to pre-pandemic situations, but actually even worse off now with the cost of living increases.”
“I would have said we are experiencing a food crisis in Montgomery County [even] before the federal cuts,” Isaacs said.
Citing national statistics, she said there’s been a more than 65 percent increase in demand at food pantries nationwide since early 2023 and in 2024, “52 percent of food pantries reported having such severe shortages that they were turning people away.”
“I think it is very likely that we’re going to face very devastating situations because there are so many different policies being proposed that any individual one of them would create an absolute crisis,” she said.
Advocates Urge Maintaining SNAP Funding
This isn’t the first time food assistance programs have faced difficulty. The program rolled back previously issued emergency allotment benefits tied to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2023.
“Any reduction to SNAP benefits or eligibility will make it even harder for our neighbors to feed their families and will put even more pressure on organizations like Manna,” Good said. “We should be enhancing SNAP benefits, not reducing them.
“SNAP is widely considered one of the most effective and efficient safety net programs in our country, as it reduces poverty for millions of people, improves food security, is linked with improved health, and is an economic engine for local grocery stores and other businesses,” he continued.
Manna on Main Street’s kitchen has tripled the number of meals served since 2022, recording 13,000 meals per month, Good said. He added that the organization serves 400 to 500 meals per day as well as another 700 meals for local seniors through Meals on Wheels.
They’ve also “set a record for the number of households served in a month,” providing food for 906 households, an 11 percent increase from last year.
Relying On Donors
Some food pantries do not receive a direct infusion of federal funding, instead relying on donor support. In Norristown, the Patrician Society has amassed a network of more than 150 donors ranging from religious organizations to schools, according to former Executive Director Joe Maccolini.
The Norristown food pantry has been “indirectly impacted,” Maccolini said, as other “impacted agencies that do get government funds are cutting back” and the Norristown-based pantry is “seeing more families as a result of that.”
The food pantry has been serving people at “COVID-19 levels in recent days,” Maccolini said, with 120 families coming in on Tuesday as compared to the 40-to-50 families per day prior to the pandemic. Executive Director Liam Murphy agreed, noting they’re seeing “more people, more need.”
“[As] other resources relied on are being cut so they’re coming to The Patrician Society to make up the loss,” Murphy said.
Wedholm expressed similar apprehensions.
“One of the things that we anticipate is, you know, seeing an influx of clients coming because their SNAP benefits might be cut or might be eliminated,” Wedholm said. “They might have eliminated their jobs. They might be federal employees or employees of agencies that have been cut.”
There were roughly 1,200 individuals served in March, while 1,050 people received assistance during the same period last year at the Ambler food pantry. Overall membership to the community cupboard has been on the rise over the past few years. At 20,400 individuals served in 2024, Wedholm said “our members last year were higher than we’ve ever done.” There were 17,000 people served in 2023 and 10,000 in 2022.
“It’s exponentially gone up. We anticipate it being more,” she said.
‘Afraid to Leave Their Homes’
Advocates have found seniors and families to be trending upwards, while local Latino populations have seen a decrease in food pantry participation, as federal immigration crackdowns have the county’s immigrant population on edge.
“I think that they’re afraid to leave their homes for fear of ICE being around,” Wedholm said.
Foster acknowledged the food pantry encompassing the Souderton Area School District serves upwards of 250 families per month and another 175 per week through the Fresh For All outdoor produce program and they continue to sign up around one or two families each day, but “we have a very high Hispanic population here, and we’re seeing less of those individuals come in now.”
“I believe our numbers would be much higher than they were last year if we still [had] that Hispanic population coming in and getting food each month … we are seeing a big decrease in that,” Foster said, also attributing “fear” as the reason for the decrease.
“We’re trying to make sure that the families that are in the Latinx population are sharing to their friends when they go back to their homes and neighborhoods that Maddie Dixon is here,” Wedholm said. “We’ll deliver to you. If you’re afraid to come out because of ICE, we’ll do whatever it is to get you the food.”
