SCAPPOOSE Ore. (KPTV) – Due to the USDA’s distribution cuts to food banks, the Scappoose Public Library says it’s no longer receiving nonperishables.
Advocates hope a month-long food drive can help alleviate the shortage.
“They just called and said, ‘We do not have food’,” said JJ Duehrn, who works for the City of Scappoose and is organizing the food drive. “We only get produce right now, and started out with 400 pounds, and now we’ve got some sad radishes and five onions.”
That 400 pounds became “sad radishes and five onions” in just one hour.
“People are not getting food. You’ve got federal workers now coming here…we have almost nothing left. People are really struggling,” Duehrn said.
SEE ALSO:
Library director Jeff Weiss said the need has grown in the past month.
“We’re getting a lot of new people and a lot of people, I think, who have never had to scrounge for food,” Weiss said.
With the lack of nonperishable supplies, he and his staff are stocking the pantry as much as they are able.
“Every week we buy stuff. And it comes from actual employee pockets, it’s not coming from tax dollars,” Weiss said.
He has spent more than $100 a week on bread and rice, for example. That food will run out in just 10 minutes.
“Every day we have at least 20 people waiting to come in,” he said.
The situation is just as bleak at the food bank itself.
“Folks that weren’t coming into the pantry before because SNAP benefits were enough- with the increased price of groceries, they couldn’t make it anymore,” said Columbia Pacific executive director Casey Wheeler.
Last month, the USDA announced it’s cutting off $500 million in shipments to food banks across the country. At Columbia Pacific, Wheeler said that equates to 41 tons of food “disappeared.”
“We might have to make a hard decision down the road as far as which partner agencies get food and which don’t,” Wheeler said. “Depending on how the food supply goes. It’s all an unknown at this point.”
The warehouse at Columbia Pacific is quickly emptying. Meanwhile, Wheeler said they have seen household enrollment jump by 16%- and individual enrollment by 20%- over the past year. He said they’ll have to dip into emergency reserves to buy food, but at current trajectories, that will run dry in the next two years.
They’re already having to re-prioritize their distributions, resulting in the dwindling pantry at the Scappoose Public Library.
“We have never seen anything like this,” Duehrn said. “This is a really caring community and to cut off people from basic needs, like nonperishable food, which is essential- it’s unconscionable.”
She’s organized a city-wide food drive for the whole month of April in conjunction with Earth Day events.
Donations can be made directly to the Columbia Pacific Food Bank, or to bins at Fred Meyer and Grocery Outlet Bargain Market in Scappoose, and the Scappoose Public Library.
Copyright 2025 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.
发表回复