Food banks in CT say the cupboards are going bare due to federal cuts: ‘It’s frankly shocking’

CT Insider – Tuesday, May 13, 2025
By Jordan Nathaniel Fenster

Food insecurity in Connecticut doesn’t always look like hunger in other countries, according to Marlene Schwartz.

While people do sometimes starve to death in Connecticut, more often food insecurity means being “anxious about not being able to figure out where your next meal is coming from,” she said. “There probably isn’t a town in our entire state that doesn’t have a food pantry.”

Schwartz, a professor at the University of Connecticut, and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, is among a chorus of advocates, legislators and academics warning that federal cuts are stretching thin already struggling programs designed to help people who might not know how to put food on the table.

“Food insecurity has certainly not gotten much better, and there’s a big concern about the cut in federal funding for food banks,” she said.

Jason Jakubowski, CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, said there are about 600 food banks in the state. Those food pantries are filled through the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program, or at least they were before a planned delivery of 34 truckloads of food was canceled with no warning.

Those trucks are usually filled with rice or canned beans or pasta but it’s also perishable food, too, like milk, fruits and vegetables.

“It is all procured from farmers here in the United States. The federal government buys in bulk and then offers that food up to states and obviously, to food banks all across the country to distribute that food to people in need,” he explained. “There were 34 truckloads of food that we were expecting from the federal government that now we are not getting.”

Asked where that food was, if it was rotting in a government warehouse or was diverted elsewhere, Jakubowski said he didn’t know.

“I have no idea if it’s food that they’re just sitting on. I could certainly guess, but your guess is as good as mine,” he said. “All I know is that we had orders for it, and those orders have been canceled.”

That’s in addition to a $1 million federal grant that helped Connecticut Foodshare buy food from Connecticut farms for families in need.

“This is at a time where we’re seeing an increase in need at our pantries,” said Ayah Galal, spokesperson for Connecticut Foodshare.

SNAP cuts coming

In Congress, Republican lawmakers proposed this week drastic cuts to the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Opponents said those cuts would be devastating for low-income families.

About one out of every nine people in Connecticut receive benefits through the program, according to federal data, about 391,200 Connecticut residents amounting to 11 percent of the total population. Of those, 53 percent are families with children, and 44 percent are in families with seniors.

“Any cuts to SNAP or the USDA are not just numbers on a spreadsheet — they are decisions that reverberate through our communities, affecting the health, dignity, and future of our most vulnerable neighbors, especially children,” Dianne Houlihan, president of the School Nutrition Association of Connecticut, said in a news release.

Jakubowski said that SNAP is so pivotal that other food assistance programs pale in comparison.

“People of all ages benefit from the SNAP program but a significant number of SNAP recipients are senior citizens, and we’re very concerned about that,” he said. “If the cuts that we’re anticipating to SNAP go into effect, there’s not enough food at our food bank, or all the food banks in the country to be able to make up the difference.”

Meals on Wheels

In addition to funding cuts, staffing shortages at federal agencies following mass layoffs have raised concerns.

“There’s a lot of worry that people aren’t going to get the benefits that they need, or even if they’re technically available, that things are just going to be slowed down because of the challenge of trying to run huge programs with not enough people,” Schwartz said.

A spokesperson for Meals on Wheels, the program known for bringing hot food directly to seniors’ homes, said while no funding cuts have been announced, the termination of staff at the agencies that administer funding through the Older Americans Act has left the organization in uncertain territory.

“With the ongoing restructuring of Health and Human Services, a lot of long-time, experienced staff who were key to managing Older Americans Act programs have been let go,” Breyana Franklin said.

According to Meals on Wheels data, more than 2 million meals were served to seniors in Connecticut through the program in 2021, at a cost of $16 million, about one-quarter of which came through the Older Americans Act.

“It’s frankly shocking that there have been cuts to the people who run the Meals on Wheels program. It’s hard to come up with a program that probably would have more public support,” Schwartz said. “Who is not in favor of bringing food to elderly people who aren’t able to leave their home?”

Even if that funding is secured, how the program can be administered without the necessary staff remains unknown.

“We know that they don’t exist as they did,” Schwartz said. “It’s unclear if everything’s going to get absorbed somewhere else. Are things going to get lost along the way? Are there going to be enough people? We just don’t know.”

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