EAST ALLEN TWP., Pa. — Squeezed by federal cuts and delayed state funding, one of the Lehigh Valley's largest food banks does not have enough food coming in to meet demand, its leaders said Monday.
Second Harvest Food Bank, a program of anti-poverty nonprofit Community Action Lehigh Valley, feeds about 85,000 people each month by supplying more than 200 partner organizations with food to give away.
“The shelves at Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley are nearly empty, and the situation is dire,” said Dawn Godshall, chief executive officer of CALV. “Increased need has been met with decreased funding, and the impact is devastating.”
“We understand that every administration will have different priorities, but hunger and poverty don't have a political party. We need legislators to do the right thing. We need people to stand up and speak up.”Dawn Godshall, chief executive officer of Community Action Lehigh Valley
The worst may be yet to come for Community Action, one of the largest organizations of its kind in the Lehigh Valley.
Federal officials could soon slash $6.6 million CALV thought it could count on receiving, according to the nonprofit, including $2.8 million in block grants which fund the Sixth Street Shelter, housing counseling and community development programs.
Also at risk is $2.6 million from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, used to help pay low-income families’ heating bills in winter and weatherize aging homes.
Officials with the U. S. Department of Agriculture could soon cut The Emergency Food Assistance Program, CALV leaders fear, which provides Second Harvest with $9.5 million worth of food each year plus money for operating expenses.
At the Second Harvest warehouse in East Allen Township, the nonprofit’s staff warned that axing funding would disrupt services that Lehigh Valley residents rely on for food, shelter, heating and other essentials.
“We understand that every administration will have different priorities, but hunger and poverty don't have a political party,” Godshall said. “We need legislators to do the right thing. We need people to stand up and speak up.”
'A really big hit' to Second Harvest
Already reeling from federal cuts to food aid programs, Second Harvest is also being squeezed by missing state funding, a victim of delays to this year’s state budget.
Each year, the food bank gets $9.5 million dollars from Pennsylvania’s State Food Purchase Program. Because state legislators failed to adopt a budget by their June 30 deadline, food banks can't buy food through the program.
“That’s a really big hit,” Second Harvest Associate Executive Director Sarah Wassel said. “Once the budget passes, we would be in a better position. The problem is, it's reimbursement, so we need [state officials] to agree before we start moving forward.”
Missing state funding compounds the impact of lost federal resources.
In March, federal officials clawed back $1.2 million the food bank would have used to buy produce directly from local farmers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also scaled back its food shipments, according to Second Harvest leadership.
In all, Second Harvest’s food receipts dropped by nearly 3 million pounds – enough to feed its clients for more than two months – from the 2023-24 fiscal year to 2024-2025.
Meanwhile, the number of people turning to the nonprofit for help each month has grown roughly 50% since 2022.
To fill the gap left by state and federal money, several local grocery store chains and food distributors have stepped in with large donations in recent weeks. Second Harvest also works with organizations such as Farmlink which connect food banks with produce that would otherwise be thrown away.
But even if distributors donate enough to make up the lost food pound-for-pound, they are still no substitute for cash.
Though Second Harvest prides itself on accepting any donation, a meal assembled from whatever grocery stores can't sell might not be particularly appealing or nutritious. One recent donation from food distributor Wakefern, for example, included several thousand bottles of soda.
“When we bring in donations like a truck from Wakefern, who are amazing partners, it might be a mixture of oatmeal, cooking oil, sometimes Lysol — it's not like pasta and sauce,” said Melissa Conway, the food bank’s operations manager. “That's what we were able to do when we purchased food: create meals that were healthy and easy to put together.”
Fresh produce, in particular, will be hard to come by; Second Harvest has not been able to buy milk or eggs in several months, Conway said.
