AUSTIN, Texas — At a time when food insecurity is on the rise, the Trump administration cut more than a billion dollars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of meals to the Central Texas Food Bank.
One in six Central Texans currently faces food insecurity, with the Central Texas Food Bank serving 93,000 people a week. Those cancelled deliveries have resulted in the loss of 913,000 pounds of food, or roughly 716,000 meals. This doesn’t just impact their partners, but the communities these partners serve.
At the African American Youth Harvest Foundation, food insecurity is only one piece of the puzzle.
“We don’t just focus on the mentoring of individuals,” Founder and Director Michael Lofton said. “What does that look like? Food, clothes, utilities, job, job re-entry.”
It’s still a large piece of the puzzle.
“What is the ripple effect of communities not having food when we start talking about safety and justice in the communities?” Lofton said. “Do we have to start losing lives? Folks going to the store and doing more robberies? Do we want that to increase for the mere fact because of food?”
Lofton says they serve hundreds of people a week, a need that has only grown in recent months.
“When food prices are going up, you know, access to food is going away,” Lofton said.
Despite the growing need, their food pantry has actually had to reduce its hours due to a decreasing supply of food.
“We’ve had to reduce to two days a week instead of four,” Lofton said. “These shelves, in my mindset, they’re empty right now.”
Now he expects the situation to grow even worse, after their partner at the Central Texas Food Bank was hit by federal cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Vice President of Government Affairs Beth Corbett says as a result, they had to cancel nearly 40 deliveries between now and September.
“Those 40 loads were the equivalent of roughly 716,000 meals,” Corbett said.
Corbett says in the short term, this means the variety of donations could change.
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“It was predominantly protein, like chicken, turkey, and pork,” Corbett said. “Vegetables, as well as dairy products like milk and cheese.”
But she says they are still committed to providing the same quantity of meals to the more than 530,000 Central Texans facing food insecurity. She says the food bank is currently paying more than $1 million a month out of pocket.
“We’re serving more families now, more households than we were during the height of the pandemic,” Corbett said.
Right now, Texas ranks second in the nation for food insecurity.
“We’re one of the richest countries in the world, and for us to have food insecurity the way we do, it leaves a lot to be desired,” Lofton said.
Corbett hopes the Trump administration will soon roll out their own policies to help.
“If these cuts are sustained or permanent, we do expect to see a significant decrease in the amount of food we’re able to provide Central Texans,” Corbett said.
But until then, Lofton is calling on the entire community to lift each other up.
“If anyone is looking at this here and can make a donation, we need it,” Lofton said. “Because we need more shelves, we need our shelves back full.”
People can donate to the Central Texas Food Bank here or to the African American Youth Harvest Foundation directly. If Austinites want something to do this weekend, the Austin Reggae Festival has been a long-time partner, with a portion of all ticket sales going directly to the Central Texas Food Bank.
The festival kicked off on Friday and goes all weekend.
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