Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s federal cost-cutting spree hit the Redwood Empire Food Bank here in the North Bay last week, in the form of $750,000 in suspended food shipments, according to the Press Democrat — thus “leaving the region’s largest hunger relief organization having to figure out how to make up the difference.”
The PD adds: “At about 155,000 pounds, the truckloads earmarked for the needy into April are intended to cover six weeks. Milk, eggs, dried fruit, along with frozen and canned protein were part of the orders. If the food pantry were to go out and buy the food, the value of the shipments would be much more.”
Crews from Redwood Empire Food Bank come to Healdsburg almost every day of the week to distribute groceries and other essential goods to those in need, at a rotation of locations — including the Healdsburg Senior Center, City Hall, Healdsburg Elementary, Trinity Baptist Church, Alliance Medical Center, the Healdsburg Food Pantry and Corazón Healdsburg. (Plus a bunch more spots in Windsor, Geyserville and Cloverdale. You can find a full schedule of distribution times and locations on their website.)
I reached out to the food bank’s head of communications, Rachelle Mesheau, asking how food distribution in Healdsburg and environs might be affected by this federal decision. She said the cuts pose a huge obstacle, but seemed confident that Redwood would find ways to make up the difference. Rachelle sent me the following statement earlier today:
The federal cuts are indeed a significant challenge, as we were anticipating $700,000 worth of food over the next few months that will no longer be available to us. Despite this setback, we remain committed to providing food to our community in Healdsburg and the surrounding areas. While the cancellation… is disappointing, we are encouraged by the recent announcement of Section 32 bonus buys and are hopeful that the current administration will maintain and create safety net programs for food assistance, especially as more people than ever are seeking help.
This shift means we will need to acquire more food independently to maintain a balanced mix of nutritious offerings. The increased reliance on purchasing food is putting pressure on local markets and raising costs, which will necessitate additional support from donors to meet the growing need. With demand for food assistance rising due to inflation and reduced federal support, the challenge of addressing food insecurity is becoming more acute. Adjustments in our operations and increased fundraising efforts will be necessary to ensure we can continue providing sufficient and nutritious food to those in need, and we remain committed to serving our community effectively despite these challenges.
You can donate directly to the Redwood Empire Food Bank or volunteer to help on their website. Meanwhile, Mike McGuire — Healdsburg’s hometown boy of a state senator — shared a series of high-level details about these federal food-bank cuts on his Facebook page. Here’s what’s happening, according to Mike:
- 330 truckloads of food from the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] that were headed for California food banks have been cancelled by the Trump Administration.
- The shipments come through the USDA’s emergency food assistance program (TEFAP), and food banks can order items they need, such as canned vegetables, milk, dried fruit, frozen chicken, frozen pork, eggs, etc. The cost of the food orders are covered by the USDA.
- The cancellation comes from the $500 million fund allocated at the discretion of the USDA Secretary. In recent years, this was used to send additional food shipments to food banks. This discretionary pot has now been suspended
- California had been receiving about $50 million worth of food annually from the discretionary fund, typically in quarterly shipments. These latest quarterly shipments are what was cancelled. We’re still working to determine if this is a one-time cancellation or if this move will be made permanent.
- The cancelled shipments are predicted to hit small and rural food banks the hardest.
- These cuts come at the same time the federal Administration is proposing significant restrictions to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits (SNAP) or CalFresh.
Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Healdsburg Tribune, called Healdsburg Today. Subscribe here!
