WACO, Texas (KXXV) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture paused $500 million in deliveries to food banks nationwide.
- Shepherd's Heart Food Pantry says they are not worried about the funding pause.
- Another local food pantry in Waco, Caritas, says they are closely monitoring all of the changes coming during a critical time.
- Shepherd's Heart and Caritas both received food from local food banks to distribute.
- Within the first two months of this year, Shepherd's Heart is already 11% ahead of where it was last year.
- The USDA canceled two federal programs that help schools and food banks buy food from local farmers. Those initiatives alone made up more than a billion dollars in funding.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"We used to just have a couple of lines, but you see what we have here now, that's how I know it's grown," Jeanne Snodgrass said.
Shepherd's Heart volunteer Jeanne Snodgrass tells 25 News she's seen the need grow in our community while working with the food pantry for many years.
"The paychecks just don't go as far as they used to," she said. "Hopefully this kind of gets it extended to the next paycheck."
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture paused $500 million in deliveries to food banks nationwide.
"I'm not worried about it," Bob Gager said. "What I mean by that is we've seen this before, in previous years, every, every time, every four years, we go through this kind of stuff."
While this has some organizations worried—Shepherd's Heart CEO Bob Gager says he's not concerned about the pause in funding.
"We have an administration now that's looking at, 'Hey, we're wasting a lot of money, and we've got to do something about it," he said.
Bob says Shepherd's Heart does not get any federal or state funding, but the food banks they receive food from do.
"Even though we get our supply from the food bank, I've already been assured by them," he said.
"I spoke to one of the vice presidents on Monday, and we talked about this, and they've got enough programs in process that working with the state that we can get things, we're going to be fine."
Bob tells 25 News he gets around five loads a week from local food banks to share with the community.
Within the first two months of this year, Shepherd's Heart is already 11% ahead of where it was last year.
