Starting March 31, community meals will transition from Monday drive-through to in-person only with dinner served 4:30-5:10 p.m.
MANITOWOC – Grow It Forward is trimming its Community Meals and Food Pantry programs after changes in federal funding.
“We know this is hard and we appreciate our community’s understanding,” founder and CEO Amber Daugs said in a social media post.
“Due to significant reductions in food supply caused by cuts or elimination of certain federally funded food programs, we must adjust how we provide our services,” the post added.
Starting March 31, community meals will transition from Monday drive-through to in-person only, she said. Dinner will be served from 4:30 to 5:10 p.m.
People who attend meals will receive one meal only — no takeout or to-go meals will be available.
Starting April 3, food pantry visits will be limited to once per month per person, rather than once a week.
“This is to ensure a consistent supply of food,” Daugs said. “We know this is hard, and we appreciate your understanding.”
Pantry hours will remain 2-5 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. Appointments are preferred, but not required.
Grow It Forward feeds more than 2,000 people and provides more than 4,500 food allotments to the hungry each year.
That number is growing, even as the nonprofit is receiving less food through the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program, a commodity program where the pantry receives surplus produce. Grow It Forward used to receive 250-280 boxes of produce through TEFAP per month, but now gets five boxes a month, according to Daugs.
She expects both cuts in federal spending and tariffs on imported food to have an impact on the amount of food Grow It Forward will have to give to families in need.
The Department of Agriculture has cut more than $1 billion in funding aimed at helping schools and food banks purchase from local farmers. The cuts come amid the Trump administration’s push to purge federal spending, according to a USA TODAY article.
States were notified recently that the USDA had cut the funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program for 2025, the organization School Nutrition Association said in a news release.
The agency also cut funds for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which operates similarly for the food supplies for local food banks and organizations in underserved communities, according to a report from Politico.
How to support Grow It Forward
Food or financial donations can be dropped off at Grow It Forward, 1501 Marshall St., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Donations can be made to Grow It Forward’s “Rise Against Hunger” campaign at https://shorturl.at/sR3A0.
Or contact Grow It Forward at 920-645-9467, via email at [email protected] or online at grow-it-forward.org.
Contact reporter Patti Zarling at [email protected] or call 920-606-2575. Follow her on X @PGPattiZarling, on Instagram @PGPatti and on Bluesky @PGPatti.
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