NORWICH – The already struggling food pantries and soup kitchens in Chenango County are being dealt yet another devastating blow with the announcement that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) will not be allocating critical money to local emergency food distribution sites this year.
Due to the recent decline of unemployment in Chenango County, the county no longer meets the unemployment benchmark to qualify for EFSP allocations. Moreover, the overall poverty rate in the county is lower than the EFSP poverty threshold. Earlier this month, the Chenango County United Way – the EFSP allocation hub for 17 food pantries and soup kitchens in the county – received a letter from the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program notifying them of the loss.
“We are very disappointed that this has occurred,” said United Way Director Elizabeth Monaco in a written statement. On average, the United Way receives $26,000 per year to disperse among food distribution sites countywide. “I am very concerned about our food pantries and soup kitchens and the families that depend on them across Chenango County. So many of the ‘working poor’ depend on these services to survive and I fear what will happen without funding.”
Currently, Monaco is advocating for the reversal of the EFSP decision. Letters have been to the EFSP Board and the State Set Aside Committee, in which she notes that the community has received EFSP funds for more than 30 consecutive years. In addition, she states “most outlying areas of the county are estimated to have poverty levels of 25 percent” and that “the ‘working poor’ make up approximately 40 percent of the community’s workforce.”
The rebuff of allocations is a hard blow to all local food pantries, said Catholic Charities Director of Community Outreach Gary Quarella. The Catholic Charities Roots and Wings food pantry acts as an emergency food distribution site to all county residents. Last year, Roots and Wings distributed $81,003.81 in food value to area residents, making it the largest food pantry in the county.
According to Quarella, the agency faces a detrimental $10,000 loss this year; this despite its recent reports of serving 512 families (1,683 family members) and 25,245 meals in August, the highest numbers during a one-month period in the agency’s longstanding 14-year history, he said.
“This is definitely going to affect our customer base because the food pantry is going to be really light,” he said. He also explained that as food pantries in different regions of the county begin to run dry, residents often turn to Roots and Wings. “What we try really hard to do is provide enough food, based on family size, to feed each member three meals for five days. We definitely won’t be able to do that,” he added. “This is going to put more stress especially on rural customers ... Customers could see food pantries closed at times between now and the end of the year.”
Still, Quarella said he’s optimistic about the fate of Roots and Wings, as well as other food distribution sites relying on EFSP funding. “This community is pretty good about rallying,” he said.
Roots and Wings is currently working collaboratively with Commerce Chenango in a countywide food drive that will collect non-perishable food items until the end of the week. Collection sites have been set up at NBT branches around the county as well as the Eaton Center and City Hall in Norwich. Items collected will be disbursed by Catholic Charities and Commerce Chenango to 18 different food pantries in the county.
Said Monaco, “While financial contributions are fabulous, so are donations of food items and we are very greatful to the Commerce Chenango for doing this food drive. Hopefully the community will be generous and an help cushion this funding blow.”