Recently, our Executive Director, Tiesa Hollaway, and Director of Program Services, Kandy Chimento, attended the annual partner conference at the Central Texas Food Bank. HCCM has been partnering with the food bank for most of our history. Food availability has increased over the years, culminating
with ample amounts of food during COVID and a couple of years following. Much of this increase was due to increased funding from government programs during COVID, but also partnerships with retail stores and other initiatives by the food bank.
However, in the past year, while the demand has increased (with HCCM experiencing a 40% increase in clients), the supply has decreased. Many families who rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program- formerly known as food stamps), have recently seen a reduction in their benefits. For example, SNAP payments that had previously provided 1,296 meals has fallen to 733 meals. That, coupled with inflation, has sent many folks scrambling for food and increased visits to the food pantries.
The Central Texas Food bank, which supplies food to pantries and kitchens in a 21-county service area has been struggling to keep up. They have experienced a decrease in TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) foods that come through government funding. CTFB has a plan to increase their fresh food availability. First of all, fresh food is normally more nutritious than canned food. Also, strangely enough, fresh produce is less expensive than canned foods. For example, CTFB pays about $33,000 for a semi-truck load of canned carrots, as opposed to $3000 for a semi-truck of fresh carrots.
The Gateway strategy of CTFB is “The Future is Fresh”. The acronym details the different streams of focus for the future:
F – Food Access strategies and sources
R – Research – ways to improve food supplies and systems
E – Economic Stability – required to maintain supply with demand
S – Sustainability – Future stability
H – Health – focus on healthy food items
The Central Texas Food bank is also championing the Farm Bill, which will be voted on by Congress this fall and has the potential to provide 1.5 trillion dollars to purchase 65 million pounds of food over the next 4 years. Another new program is the Wholesale Food Club which CTFB plans to make available to their partners this fall.
HCCM is also strategizing ways to maintain a strong supply of food, not only for our regular clients, but also for the increase in walk-in emergency families that we are experiencing. We have had to purchase food at near retail prices this year every month for the past 4-5 months. As we go into the fall season, with the holidays approaching, the need is still elevated. Food drives and donations are greatly appreciated so that we can maintain the normal amount of food that we distribute to our clients. For monthly updated needs, please see our website here: https://hccm.org/admin/uploads/file/pantry-shopping-list-for-website-no-date.pdf. If your church or group would like to choose one or two pantry items to focus on, please contact Kandy Chimento at 512-259-0360, Ext. 205.
We appreciate the support of our incredible community!
