Tarrant Area Food Bank has had $4 million worth of funding cuts, but its Vice President of External Affairs Jared Williams said it is working to ensure TCC still receives donations.
The cuts are a result of the Department of Agriculture cutting its Local Food Purchase Assistance Program funding this past March. Organizations like the food bank are responsible for donating goods to food pantries across the county.
“We experienced cancellations of food deliveries as well as reductions totaling an impact of about two and a half million meals,” Williams said. “Since those announcements were made, we have worked really closely with all of our partners to help fill the gap and to ensure that our neighbors facing crisis and hunger have the food that they need.”
People living in food insecure households are being impacted by the changes in SNAP benefits, Williams said.
“We see a reduction [of] economic impact of $58 million per year,” he said. “And then as well as a reduction in SNAP education of about $450,000 here locally.”
NE student employee Leilani Egan works at the food pantry on her campus, and she said the cuts to food programs will greatly affect students.
“There are many students who come in here and get groceries, they get food and I know they take it home to their families,” Egan said. “If they’re cutting funds for food supply stuff, hopefully they’ll be able to keep this up and running.”
The food bank delivers fresh food to the NE pantry every Tuesday, and Egan said the rest of their supplies are stocked with donations from the community.
“We haven’t had a lot of donations lately,” Egan said. “Before [Monday], we were almost out of food because no one had brought any food in for a while.”
She said Oct. 6 the pantry received one huge donation, but it doesn’t normally work that way.
SE Campus’ food pantry reopened after closing during campus construction, and Student Activities Coordinator Carla Hernandez said her focus isn’t on the cuts.
“We have really good people that are always here to support students,” Hernandez said. “We have a lot of employees who are on a routinely basis checking with me to see what we need at the food pantry, and I think people care so much about student success and the mission of the food pantry that we continue supporting it.”
Hernandez said SE Campus also receives donations from Arlington charities, but she greatly encourages more of TCC’s community to donate as well.
“We all need help at some point in our lives,” Hernandez said.
She also encourages people to utilize the food pantry regardless of what their financial situation may look like. The food pantry is for everyone and does not require the user to be facing hardship.
“We help supplement students’ pantries, students and employees,” she said. “We also support our employees, and that is something that a lot of people don’t know.”
Although the food bank is being affected, TCC is not likely to experience lack of food for those in need, Hernandez said.
“I don’t see that affecting our students and we [TCC] wouldn’t let it affect our students,” she said. “So that’s why I’m not too focused on what the government or the administration is doing because regardless of what they do, our students are not going to feel that.”
