Congress is once again debating a Coronavirus relief package. The updated HEROES Act, which was introduced last week, includes a 15 percent increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This past year, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and the rest of Feeding America’s network of 200 food banks and 60,000 partner food pantries and meal programs have served more than 5 billion meals to our neighbors in need. Yet, for every meal Feeding America provides, SNAP provides nine. As our nation’s public health and economic crises continue with no end in sight, investing in SNAP is an efficient and cost-effective way to help families keep their pantries full while also stimulating economic activity in central Pennsylvania and nationwide.
The recently introduced bill also invests an additional $450 million to help food banks meet the growing need for food assistance through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Since the onset of COVID-19, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has seen an increase in demand of nearly 50 percent. As the capacity of food banks becomes more stretched than ever, this bill would strengthen their ability to do what food banks do best: feed families.
Every day, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank helps families in our community have enough to eat, but we can’t meet the need alone. As people across the country face the highest food prices in 50 years and as unemployment benefit claims surpass 50 million, strong investments in both federal nutrition programs and the charitable sector are essential so families do not have to choose between putting food on the table and paying their rent. More than ever, we need our lawmakers to come together and pass a bill that strengthens every tool at our disposal to significantly curb hunger in our country. The federal nutrition provisions in this proposed bill are a critical step in that direction.