Federal funding cuts are affecting food banks across Michigan as the federal government shutdown continues.
This spring, the United States Department of Agriculture made significant cuts to federal food programs, including the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. Now, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are set to stop in November.
Kenneth Estelle is the CEO of Feeding America West Michigan, a food bank that serves about half the counties in the state. Estelle said food pantries are seeing more people because of anxiety and fear over what will happen with SNAP benefits.
Feeding America gets around 30% of its food from federal commodity programs. It also receives significant federal grants and federal administrative funding, Estelle said.
Estelle said the organization’s work revolves around getting food from farmers, retailers, and others in the food industry to people in need. It inspects, sorts, and repackages the food before distributing it to food pantries, meal programs, mobile distributions, and more.
“We do that everyday. … We serve around 300,000 to 400,000 families, totaling around 32 million pounds of food a year,” working with about 800 partner organizations throughout the 40 counties they serve, Estelle said.
He said it's hard to predict many of the effects of the shutdown with any precision.
“Right now, we’re experiencing some delay because we order food through USDA process about six months in advance,” Estelle said. “We understand that those current orders that we’re putting in for food are being not processed because of the shutdown. We’re uncertain whether that will cause delay in getting food that will be coming in the next five to six months,” he continued.
Estelle said Feeding America West Michigan has other food suppliers it's working with, but the loss of federal resources still has a significant impact on the meals it can provide families across the state.
A lot of the federally provided food is significantly nutritious food, Estelle said. “So it’s not just the amount of food, it’s the quality and the type of product that we get that is just really healthy and helpful.”
He added that Feeding America and other food programs like it now have to purchase food to distribute instead of simply receiving it from the federal government.
“The team is very proud that they’re able to help their neighbors, but it’s also stressful when you don’t have what they need,” Estelle said. The most-demanded food, protein, including beef and chicken, is often financially difficult to get.
“Understanding that we won’t be able to fill the gap for SNAP, we’re absolutely going to do everything we possibly can to get the food people need everyday as long as we can,” Estelle said.
“We are here because we know that everybody will at some point need help,” he continued. “And right now, we realize that there are probably more people that will need help as a result of some of the assistance interruptions.”
Estelle encouraged the community to urge their elected officials to come to an agreement to end the shutdown by sharing the importance programs like Feeding America holds for ordinary Michigan families.
The Trump administration has declined to tap into a federal fund that could help continue SNAP benefits, arguing that the money can only be used for "true emergencies" like natural disasters.
Feeding America, as well as its food pantry partners, still have food available for people across the state. Estelle said that he was grateful for the generous support of their community during this period of uncertainty.
