Chicago food banks worried about ability to meet need amid Trump administration’s cuts to USDA

CHICAGO (WLS) — New directives from President Donald Trump’s administration have been impacting local food banks.

People who use and provide those services said they are worried about what the next few months could hold.

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Within the first half an hour that the Care for Real food pantry was open, they provided groceries for 81 families that could surge to 300 by the end of their day. However, with the Trump administration’s cuts to the USDA, the food pantry and others are worried about their ability to meet the need.

“It’s a great thing to have this place,” said Sebastian Koraleski, who was getting groceries.

It’s because of the Care For Real food pantry that Koraleski said he won’t go hungry this week.

“It makes a great difference,” Koraleski said. “I have tears in my eyes. It makes a great difference.”

However, like others, the North Side resident worries that could change because looming federal cuts in food aid.

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The Care For Real food pantry in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood, along with it’s sister location in Rogers Park, provides groceries for an estimated 300 families a day, five days a week.

One 64-year-old woman told ABC7 she was forced to retire because of an illness and now lives on less than $1,000 a month from Social Security. She said she comes to the food pantry once a week because the SNAP food assistance benefits she gets are not enough to pay for groceries.

“Over the last couple of years, $10 here, $20 there, so it’s down to a $150 a month,” she said.

Looking to cut spending, the Trump administration has frozen or cancelled a billion dollars in food aid.

Darryl Collins is food insecure and does not think that is right.

“It’s making a lot of people not eat and that’s bogus and that’s a problem,” Collins said. “We all got to eat.”

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Recently, the Greater Chicago Food Depository learned 52 truckloads of government food that it expected to arrive between now and August from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been suspended.

Care For Real gets half its donations from the food depository. Officials at the 55-year-old organization fear a perfect storm of need versus resources is on the horizon, threatening their ability to serve families.

“And so we know with so many policy changes happening we’re afraid that, we know that we are going to see more people in need of food assistance,” said Gregory Gross with the Care For Real food pantry.

The pantry said the government cuts put them in uncharted territory, and they really do not know when they will start to feel the pinch of the shortages.

In the meantime, they’re trying to figure out creative ways to fill the void and continue to make sure that people have enough food to eat.