By MATT PIKE
Since May, food banks across Missouri have experienced severe federal food aid loss due to cuts to USDA programming by the Trump Administration.
Nearly 1.6 million pounds have been lost from programs that buy food from farmers, such as chicken, eggs, pork, and gallons of milk.
Second Harvest Community Food Bank CEO Chad Higdon says the food bank has seen these losses even as demand has risen.
“Our pantries that we work with throughout the 18 counties in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas that are calling and asking if there’s any kind of additional food available or support that we can provide,” Higdon tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And families that are calling, with the shutdown looming both Missouri and Kansas have now kind of indicated that if the shutdown goes on past November 1st that SNAP benefits will be paused.”
Second Harvest is planning as best it can to help offset the losses even as demand increases.
Higdon says while the cuts and changes are having an effect on the food bank, it’s really the families that rely on the programs that are going to feel it more than anyone else
“We’re proud of being able to distribute six to seven million pounds of food every year at Second Harvest, but the reality for every one meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine meals,” Higdon explains. “So, there’s no way for us to pick up that kind of gap, so we’re watching this as close as anybody.”
Higdon says several families have called asking for assistance across the 18 counties the food bank serves in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas.
Higdon says he’s been with Second Harvest for just over a decade and has seen circumstances change numerous times, but no matter the circumstance, the food bank still strives to help.
“We’re working now to see what we can do and how responsive we can be and going to share some of that information with our coordinators at a lot of the area pantries and some of those kinds of those things,” Higdon says. “But we’re monitoring this and going to do the best we can to just respond and be there for families that need us.”
Higdon says now would be a critical time to reach out to Second Harvest, or your local food pantry, to see how you can help provide for local families.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
