PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Federal funding cuts are hurting food banks and the people they serve nationwide, including St. Mary’s in Phoenix.
The cuts come at a time when the food bank is seeing record demand and gearing up for a busy summer with kids out of school.
“We’re seeing more people than we have at any other time and now we may see an increased amount with the summertime and the possible people losing SNAP at a time when the food supply is shrinking,” Jerry Brown with St. Mary’s Food Bank said.
Brown says the food bank is losing a million pounds of food this summer due to federal funding cuts. To put this in perspective, one million pounds of food is close to a million meals.
“It’s really the type of food that really is impactful, because it’s fresh meats, it’s fresh dairy, it’s things that we can’t replace in itself,” Brown said.
Because of these cuts, Brown says St. Mary’s might have to “spread the food a little bit thinner.” That means a St. Mary’s food box might have 10 to 11 items at the end of summer compared to the 12 to 13 items it typically has now.
“We will always have food for everybody that needs the food. It’s just the amount of food and the type of food may change in order to meet some of the demand that we’re going to be seeing,” Brown said.
Brown said this is all happening at a time when donations are usually at their lowest, with donors heading out of town to escape the summer heat.
“If you have an opportunity to make a donation before you leave for your vacation, every dollar donated to St. Mary’s Food Bank provides five meals into the community so $20 provides 100 meals,” Brown added.
If you would like to donate to St. Mary’s or learn more about volunteer opportunities, click here.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
发表回复