MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Two programs that began during the COVID-19 pandemic are coming to an end after the U.S. Department of Agriculture made significant budget cuts. That’s leaving schools and food banks across the country to face new challenges.
Approximately $1 billion was allocated to the programs to help schools and food banks nationwide purchase locally produced fruits and vegetables.
Alabama State Superintendent of Education Dr. Eric Mackey says school districts could see impacts to their lunch programs as early as the end of the school year.
“They have to go through a delivery company and purchase them,” Dr. Mackey said of the food. “They may be an Alabama product, they may come out of Florida.”
The Heart of Alabama Food Bank, which serves over 200,000 Alabamians across 35 counties, will be hit hard with CEO Michael Coleman noting that the $600,000 loss in funding will be impossible to make up.
“We’re going to need people to come alongside us and help us in this fight to a greater degree than we’ve asked in the past,” Coleman said.
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