Toledo food banks, school lunch programs brace for federal funding cuts

TOLEDO, Ohio —

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made $1 billion in cuts, and more could be on the way.

These cuts will likely trickle down to food banks and school lunch programs. Local organizations are bracing for the impact of these cuts, even those that don’t receive funding from the USDA.

Serving hearty and healthy meals to kids is the goal of Connecting Kids to Meals, but federal cuts are making that mission a little harder.

“I’m very worried about the kids who would ultimately be the ones to actually pay the ultimate price,” said Wendi Huntley, CEO and president of the Toledo-based organization.

The organization serves close to 600,000 meals every year, according to Huntley.

These federal cuts come at a time when inflation is already creating strain.

“At the end of the day, we lean heavily into our funding partners whether that’s our corporate partners, whether it’s grant funders, whether it’s individual donors, we’re leaning heavier into them day by day,” Huntley said.

Connecting Kids to Meals is looking at changes like having partners pick up meals or centralizing pick-up locations to keep costs down.

Organizations that rely on USDA funds aren’t the only ones preparing, either.

“Cherry Street is not funded by USDA, but we are in collaboration with literally dozens and dozens of other agencies that all serve the same client base, and when one agency is impacted, we are all impacted,” Cherry Street Mission Ministries CEO Ann Ebbert said.

If other organizations are facing cuts that might limit their ability to serve people, driving up the number of people coming to organizations like Cherry Street Mission Ministries.

Ebbert said there has already been an increase in people seeking resources, and the organization is trying to manage a budget with inflation.

A case of eggs cost the organization less than $30 in January of 2024. This month, a case costs more than $120. Ebbert said bird flu is a factor in these increases, but these are mirroring what people see at home.

“That’s when we see people start to use the services at Cherry Street,” Ebbert said. “We try to be prepared just by being aware of what’s going on.”

Ebbert said the Cherry Street Mission looking at available alternatives to keep the organization running within budget.

A representative from the Islamic Food Bank of Greater Toledo told WTOL 11 the organization does not rely on USDA funds but is also preparing to see more people go to them for assistance.