DAYTON — The Dayton Food Bank is facing millions in funding cuts.
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News Center 7’s Mason Fletcher met with Lee Alder, Chief Development Officer with the Dayton Food Bank, to hear how they plan to keep feeding the hungry.
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The Dayton Food Bank fights food insecurity in our community. They are now being faced with the challenge of providing for the same people, but with less money and support.
“We have been anticipating this coming down the pipeline. We’re of course hoping that we would not receive a substantial amount of cuts,” Alder said.
Unfortunately, the food bank is being hit with extensive cuts. This includes around $2 million worth of meat, dairy and canned goods, more than $400,000 of locally sourced goods and nearly $20,000 worth of food for their summer feeding program.
On top of all that, the food bank has had 12 food orders cancelled between now and the end of June, Alder says.
Alder says this is the local impact of federal cuts. For people counting on this food, it will still be available, but it may be different.
“Our variety is not going to be as robust. You might not see the chicken, and you might just see beef and pork,” Alder said.
Alder compared it to during the pandemic, when they were seeing a decline in food.
The food bank is reaching out to local produce growers in hopes to keep up with demand.
During Covid-19, the food bank had farmers supply food boxes for families.
“They were tremendous. We had a dairy box, we had a protein box, we had a fresh produce box,” Alder said. “They were convenient because it was a variety of items and they were staples. They were things everybody was familiar with.”
Alder says there are a lot of unanswered questions about operations into the future. She says the food bank will be relying more on sister food banks and local retailers.
Alder says there has never been a better time to help your local community.
“You can make monetary donations. We take all food donations as well as volunteerism. As the months get warmer, we always need volunteers,” Alder said.
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