Dear Friends and Supporters,

Next week, National Nutrition Month begins. It is a time to celebrate not just food, but the power of healthy, nourishing meals to strengthen individuals, families, and whole communities.

Nutrition is about more than calories, though—it is about dignity, opportunity, and long-term well-being. Fresh produce, lean proteins, and balanced meals help children succeed in school, empower seniors to remain independent, and allow working families to stay healthy and resilient.

Unfortunately, nearly 47 million Americans are struggling to access enough nutritious food, and food banks across the country are seeing higher demand while facing rising food costs. Here in Anne Arundel County, more than one in ten households is currently struggling to put enough healthy food on the table.

At the same time, proposed and enacted cuts to SNAP, including stricter work requirements and reduced funding, are expected to push more families toward food-relief organizations like ours in the months ahead. We are preparing for that—lobbying our elected officials to help through policy and funding, and ramping up food distributions to our network partners.

We believe that food is a human right and therefore, access to nutritious food should never depend on income, zip code, or circumstance. When people have reliable access to healthy meals, they can pursue education, hold jobs, care for their families, and participate fully in their communities. That stability is what we are working to achieve.

Because of your support, we can prioritize nutritious options that help our food-insecure neighbors make the most of every meal. Thank you for standing with us this Nutrition Month, and for believing that everyone deserves access to nutritious food. Together, we are not only feeding our neighbors — we are nourishing our community.

With gratitude,

Leah Paley

CEO, Anne Arundel County Food Bank

On the Go

Our Mobile Food Pantry is now visiting areas around the county five times a month, up from four! This increase was made possible by a grant from the Chambers Charitable Foundation.

Individual donations are still key to filling the Mobile Pantry with food for these distributions and allowing us to bring nutritious food wherever it's needed.

Thank You!

Thank you to all the supporters who offered powerful testimony at the county's recent Budget Town Hall series. Your voices clearly made an impact, with others from the community joining in with their support after hearing from so many of you. The next step in the budget process will come on May 1, when the County Executive releases his draft budget for the council's consideration.

We joined Leadership Anne Arundel for its Health and Human Services Day, this month. Food Bank CEO Leah Paley led a discussion on the real cost of hunger in Anne Arundel County.

Guest speakers included a range of subject matter experts: Chef Samuel Brown from Learn It Live It Teach It, Shawn Ashworth from Food 4 Thought, ️Lindsay Alemi and Leah from Anne Arundel County Food Bank, Lea Jaspers from Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Diana Taylor from Anne Arundel County Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families, and Marcus Hockaday from Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities. A few of the takeaways from the discussion:

• Some food-insecure neighbors are afraid to go to food pantries to receive food because of legitimate threats from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and pantries are pivoting to offer delivery services.

• Over 42% of AACPS students qualify for free and reduced-priced meals. *That’s just shy of 40,000 students!

• Distribution of nutritious foods is being prioritized by pantries, the food bank, AACPS, and others to help improve the health outcomes of our neighbors in need.

While the food-insecurity stats are discouraging, we remain optimistic that through education and advocacy, we will inspire other members of the community to act so that one day, all of our neighbors will be free from food insecurity.

This month, we received our first-ever federal earmark grant, thanks to the support of Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth. The $133,000 grant allows us to purchase a new refrigerated truck for our fleet, so we can continue to pick up and deliver fresh food all over the county while retiring one of our hard-used, twenty-year-old vehicles!

Federal funds provide boost to Crownsville Hospital redevelopment

Members of Congress divvy $8M to Anne Arundel organizations

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