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By John Bailey
Catawba County United Way
For those struggling financially in Catawba County, access to local food pantries is one way to help make ends meet and ensure access to healthy food.
However, the Catawba County United Way learned last week that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding cuts are changing what that access looks like for many families.
Last year, Ashure Ministry’s Charlie Bunn Food Pantry in Newton distributed 3.2 million pounds of food to 9,130 individuals, according to a message shared by the agency’s Executive Director Kristal Manning.
They expect significant cuts to those numbers after recently being informed by their primary food supplier in Charlotte to expect reductions based on the change in support by the USDA of the program TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program).
The number of food pallets Ashure picks up each week has been cut in half to 12, which includes essential items like dairy, eggs, produce and frozen meats.
“This means a loss of 384,000 pounds of food throughout the rest of the year,” Ashure Food Pantry Manager Robbie Fulbright said.
This will compound the stress families were already feeling according to a 2024 USDA report. The data showed food insecurity has continued to increase in the country from 2020 (13.8 million households) to 2023 (18 million households).
And families who receive help from Ashure have started to notice the difference in their food boxes.
“When we push out a cart with less food on it, we try to explain it to them that this is what we are dealing with and hopefully there will be some changes soon to help,” Fulbright said.
He added that they have started to hand out extra dry goods to help fill the gaps as much as possible, but that in turn has put additional stress on the shelf-stable foods they have.
Ashure is looking for additional grants to help with purchasing more of those food items affected by the USDA cuts.
“And we’re reaching out to local farms, anyone in the area who could possibly donate food as well,” Fulbright said.
The agency hopes this will allow them to continue to provide some fresh produce through the rest of the year.
Fulbright said despite these challenges, Ashure will never turn anyone away in need of food.
“It may be less, but we’ll give them everything we possibly can,” he said. “Our volunteers are always excited when they can push out a full cart of food to the families.”
Fulbright said one way the public can help is by making a monetary donation. Ashure is able to make bulk purchases at discounted rates to help those dollars stretch as far as possible. Food drives, whether large or small, are also always appreciated year-round.
To learn more about Ashure and how you can help visit - https://ashureministry.org/.
Manning also suggested contacting local elected officials and letting them know that food programs like TEFAP matter. These programs support not just food banks, but also local farmers and struggling families. You can find your representative at www.congress.gov.
The Catawba County United Way knows there are other local food pantries and feeding programs who may also be facing similar challenges and will reach out to them to learn how these cuts have affected their outreach as well.
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