Letter from the Cooperstown Food Pantry
CFP’s Programs Help the Hungry
As board members of the Cooperstown Food Pantry, we are committed to its mission to address issues of poverty and hunger in Otsego County. We need to let you know that our community, and our country, is facing a dangerous threat: Food insecurity is rising, and proposed cuts to SNAP and other nutrition programs will make a bad situation much worse.
The current administration abruptly canceled USDA programs that offered U.S.-grown food to food banks at low or no cost, as well as programs that enabled pantries and schools to purchase food from local farmers. Last June, the pantry could select from 31 products available through USDA; this June, there are just seven available. These actions not only increase the cost of the food we need to do our essential work but also cut income for farmers. The Regional Food Bank in Latham, the source for much of the food pantry’s food, estimates that it has lost access to a million pounds of food already this year due to these cuts. This translates to 750,000 meals, gone.
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