I’ve been on both sides of the food pantry check-in table. As a college student, I worked the desk at the University of Iowa food pantry, tucked into a quiet corner of the Student Union. You’d never find it by accident. Each week, students and faculty lined up with reusable sacks, filling them with dirt-dusted carrots, bruised broccoli, and boxed cornbread mix. The produce was often misshapen, a little off-color—but fresh all the same.
Two years later, I was the one in need. I coasted into a gas station with just enough in my account to fill the tank halfway and maybe buy a sandwich. My stomach growled. At my new part-time job, I asked—ashamed—if staff could use the food pantry. “Absolutely,” they told me. “That’s what it’s there for.”
So when I read the headline, “After Trump Cuts Aid, Food Banks Scrounge and Scrimp,” I deeply appreciated the hot cup of coffee in front of me. The Trump Administration cut $1 billion from two major federal food assistance programs: The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance program. The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program support food-insecure households by increasing access to nutritious, locally sourced food while supporting small-scale farmers.
Due to the cuts, farmers aren’t receiving their expected payments from the federal government. Their harvests, instead of moving quickly through the food banking system, sit in storage until they rot. Workers running the soup kitchen typically expect to receive a main dish, a starch, a vegetable, a fruit, and a dessert. They are now receiving only one of those categories at any given time.
These shortages trace back to the food banks themselves. When funding to the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program was cut, it disrupted the system that has coordinated America’s food assistance for decades. Farmers once sold surplus crops to the federal government; food banks purchased those surplus goods using federal funds.
While often used interchangeably, food banks and food pantries are distinct in form and function. Food banks are the distributional backbone of food assistance. They staff warehouses, provide refrigeration, and manage the trucking capacity needed to move massive quantities of food. In Ohio, this is coordinated by the Mid-Ohio Food Collective.
Food banks turn over their inventories almost daily, ensuring that local food pantries and soup kitchens have the supplies they need. Food pantries are where individuals can pick up cooking ingredients like fresh produce, box mixes, dried pasta, and occasionally toiletries or diapers. Soup kitchens provide hot, ready-to-eat meals directly. Many require individuals to show proof of economic need.
A report by the United States Department of Agriculture recently found that 18.0 million U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2023. That’s 13.5% of all households in the country. Feeding America reports that 100% of counties in America have food insecurity. The same report found seven states with rates of food insecurity above the national average: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and South Carolina.
These states with the highest rates of food insecurity are home to groups advocating for churches to serve as primary providers of social welfare, including food assistance. The World Food Policy Center released a 2020 report detailing the many unique ways that faith communities support food insecure individuals in their communities like providing Halal or Kosher foods that are harder to find at public food pantries.
While faith-based organizations play a crucial role, relying solely on them overlooks the scale of need and the infrastructure required to address it comprehensively. Churches don’t have access to the trucking or refrigeration capacities necessary for large scale food distribution.
As political and economic climates change, America must face its paradoxical wealth. The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, if not the wealthiest, yet food security persists among its residents.
The barren images of food pantry shelves and food bank walk-in freezers harkens back to the Cold War Era obsession with the abundant, beautiful food lining American grocery store shelves. But as food prices and hunger rise, we must ask, what have we been fighting for?
States and municipalities around the country have implemented numerous strategies to combat rising hunger during this period of instability.
Indianapolis is home to the Community Access Food Coalition, a community-driven, independent allegiance of community members who are passionate about expanding access to fresh foods. This organization is composed of diverse residents, constituents, business owners, farmers, educators, community organizations, and other stakeholders. They receive funding through the city-county council and serve as a community liaison regarding food policy.
2. Waterbury and Naugatuck, Connecticut
Ahead of federal budget cuts, food banks in Waterbury and Naugatak, Connecticut organized private donations and adjusted their budgets to ensure the longevity of dwindling food supplies. Organizers hope these proactive efforts will maintain a consistent level of support for the increasing number of people reliant on food assistance.
3. Ohio
In the summer of 2024, Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services expanded Electronic Benefits Transfer to include additional aid during the summer months when children lack access to school lunches. This program is called “SUN Bucks,” and was created to help low-income Ohioans stretch their food budgets and buy healthy food.
Sacramento County is part of a guaranteed income pilot program that provides families with young children $725 each month. This program, Families First Economic Support Pilot Program, was started to alleviate economic hardship and reduce the number of families involved in the child welfare system. Electronic Benefits Transfer like SNAP function essentially as a cash payment to low-income families. $100 in SNAP benefits frees up $100 you might otherwise have had to spend on groceries.