Food Bank RGV calls for community help after Trump’s USDA cuts

The Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley is experiencing some “critical” shortfalls as a result of cuts to federal government programs.

Libby Saenz, CEO of the Food Bank RGV, said that there are at least 23 loads of food that the food bank will not receive as a result of those cuts. As summer approaches, a time when many children don’t have access to meals with school being out, the food bank is calling upon the community to help meet those needs.

“We’re like two months ahead of summer, and a lot of the products that we’re relying on is not coming,” Saenz said. “Our shelves are bare.”

This comes after the Trump administration’s move to halt programs through the Commodity Credit Corporation, which has funded programs essential to food banks throughout the country for decades.

“We do have a little bit of monies left from LFPA that we’ve been using to purchase some like protein products from our local ranchers and farmers,” Saenz said. “So with that product, that’s helping a little bit. But again, all my dried products, like my beans, my rice, tomato sauce, mac and cheese, things that we use as staples that we give out to our families, I don’t have that.”

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA), which provided funding to food banks to purchase food from local farmers and ranchers within a 300-mile radius, was one of the programs impacted by the USDA’s recent cuts.

“With that alone, that helps boost the economy,” Saenz said. “It’s not just not helping the food bank and helping the people we serve, but it’s also helping those farmers and those ranchers to help subsidize the work that they’re doing as well. It goes back to the economy and it goes back into their payroll. So that makes a big difference as well.”

The Food Bank RGV, which is based out of Pharr, serves an estimated 88,000 people weekly throughout Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties.

With the recent cuts, the food bank is now relying on donations from the community. Saenz said that retailers including H-E-B, Whataburger, and L&F Distributors have responded to the food bank’s call for assistance through donations of food and water.

She said that the donations are timely given the recent flooding, but the food bank is also having to consider other avenues to compensate for the USDA’s program cuts.

This includes asking the community for donations of nonperishable food items or monetary contributions

“Everything that we do, every product that we bring in, every dollar that we receive, it goes right back into the Rio Grande Valley,” Saenz said. “We know we’ll get through it. It’s always said that God always provides. I know that we’ll get through it.”

”We have faith, and we know the public will come through as well,” she continued. “Our partners and foundations will come through and help the food bank and help the Rio Grande Valley.”

Anyone who would like to help the food bank may do so by making monetary donations online at foodbankrgv.com. Food donations may be dropped off at the Food Bank RGV, which is located at 724 N. Cage Blvd. in Pharr.

More information about how to help the food bank can be found by visiting foodbankrgv.com or calling (956) 682-8101.

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