Golden Harvest Food Bank staff alongside local and state elected officials during Feeding The Future roundtable discussion.
At a time when the number of people visiting Golden Harvest Food Bank for food resources continues to rise, elected officials are drafting legislation to govern the food programs that we use to help feed our neighbors.
Every five years, Congress reauthorizes the farm bill, the centerpiece of federal legislation that provides healthy, nutritious food for those across the country facing food insecurity. Programs that the Food Bank depends on to help alleviate hunger in our community, like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), are funded by the farm bill.
SNAP is the most effective hunger-relief program in the United States, and for every meal that Golden Harvest Food Bank provides, SNAP provides 9. This federal program has helped lift millions of people out of poverty across the country and provided an estimated $833,278 in local economic impact in the CSRA through jobs and increasing money spent on food at local retailers.
TEFAP, a nutrition program that moves food from farms to food banks, is a hunger lifeline for rural communities providing over 96% of rural counties with healthy food items. 23 of the 25 counties that Golden Harvest Food Bank serves are rural. Last year, x number of meals distributed by the Food Bank were provided through this federal program.
Golden Harvest advocates on behalf of our neighbors facing food insecurity. We are bringing our voices together to ask you to reach out to our federal officials and ask for full support of a farm bill that increases SNAP and TEFAP resources. We cannot solve hunger alone. Thank you in advance for your support.
