Feeding South Florida, the region's biggest food bank, say they've seen a decrease in food they're able to distribute to the community due to reduced federal resources.
Since the start of the pandemic in March, Feeding South Florida has seen a 200% increase in demand. Food boxes provided through the United States Department of Agriculture's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), a program created with CARES Act funding, have been reduced from 160 trailer loads per week to now 14 loads per week.
"Feeding America food banks, including Feeding South Florida, have shared that at the end of December 2020, the country will experience a 'commodity cliff,' which means food banks across the country will see more than a 50% reduction in food supply due to the expiration of the CARES ACT funding, USDA’s CFAP and Trade Mitigation commodity programs," Feeding South Florida said in a news release.
Despite the decrease, Feeding South Florida reported providing over 138.6 million pounds of food to families in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties since March. In addition, the organization created community drive-thru distributions, provided family meal boxes through school districts, created a community delivery program with first responders and provided direct home deliveries, among others.
For more information, visit feedingsouthflorida.org/covid19.
