Editor’s note: This commentary is by John Sayles, who is CEO of the Vermont Foodbank.
[E]very month at the Vermont Foodbank, we distribute about a million pounds of food to neighbors struggling with hunger and community partners across Vermont. With so much food moving through our doors and out to families in need, it can be easy to forget that decisions made hundreds of miles away can impact the work we do and the amount of food we’re able to distribute.
Congress is currently working towards passage of the Farm Bill, which includes funding for a necessary program that helps families facing tough times put food on the table. For decades, the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) has helped ensure food banks like ours can stock our shelves with nutritious food from U.S. farmers and ranchers. It’s a program that impacts the people we serve every day across the entire state of Vermont.
Almost one in five meals distributed by local hunger-relief agencies in 2017 was moved, stored and distributed because of TEFAP. In fact, every dollar of TEFAP funding helps us provide an additional 1.5 meals for hungry families across the country. When combined with other federal food assistance programs like SNAP, TEFAP helps make the difference for families that are going through a rough patch and need to put food on the table.
We urge Congress to fund TEFAP at the level included in the House Farm Bill so that the Vermont Foodbank can continue distributing nutritious, U.S. grown foods to the 1 in 4 people struggling with hunger here in Vermont.
Programs like TEFAP are a life-changer for people like Candace, who lives in Rutland County and is providing around-the-clock care for her aging parents while also raising two kids. Her husband works full time, and they still can’t make ends meet. With the help of the Vermont Foodbank and programs like TEFAP, Candace and her family are able to get the extra help they need.
Struggling Vermonters are counting on Congress to meet the needs of our most vulnerable residents by fully funding TEFAP, the cornerstone of the food supply for the nationwide network of food banks.
