Bloom: The food crisis is here
Apr. 18—MORGANTOWN — MORGANTOWN—The need and the funding for food programs are heading in opposite directions according to one local official.
"This is really not a political issue, " Tom Bloom said. "This is common sense. Of all the programs to cut, why would you cut the most essential program in the state, the country—feeding kids and feeding families ?
Bloom, a Monongalia County Commissioner and co-founder /executive director of the nonprofit Pantry Plus More food program, posed the question during a recent discussion with The Dominion Post.
He can foresee a looming disaster.
He got a sneak peek last weekend, when the number of people who showed up to the Mountaineer Food Bank's weekly food giveaway was as high as ever—some 306 families—but the food available was a fraction of the typical amount.
PPM runs the giveaways and supplements the food on offer using donations, including items provided by local businesses, like Kroger, Walmart and Panera.
"Today, we received four pallets of food from MFB ... normally we receive 10 pallets, " he wrote in a social media post following the event.
He would later explain the food provided consisted of shelf stable items and didn't include any dairy or fresh produce—both staples in past deliveries.
But the issue isn't with the Mountaineer Food Bank problem—it's about funding.
Among the recent cuts in federal spending was more than $1 billion for local food programs, including Local Food Purchase Assistance, which allows the purchase of locally-grown food for schools and pantry programs, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
"We're working with Mountaineer Food Bank. They are pulling their hair out trying to see how they can continue to meet the needs. They are the middle man trying to get food out and I feel horribly for them, " Bloom said. "We're really concerned how we're going to meet the needs of people in West Virginia."
Bloom said the funding crisis was a main topic of discussion during a quarterly meeting of area pantries and feeding programs.
He believes a significant portion of those pantries and programs won't exist this time next year if things continue on this trajectory.
"This is a huge story and it's nationwide. I do not understand why DOGE would be cutting such a needed program. It's not redundant and it's not wasteful. It's helping people make it. Most of the people who come to our programs are working. They have jobs but prices have gone up and they're having to make difficult decisions, " Bloom said. "The first couple times people come through, they're embarrassed, but it becomes a necessity."
One of the ideas being discussed is a coordinated effort to work with restaurants, event centers and stores to be able to retrieve prepared food—or food aging off of store shelves—and get it to a central location to be distributed quickly.
"Again, that will take time and energy, and probably a little bit of funding to get organized, but it may be something we need to look at. We're going to have to think out of the box because the need continues to be more and more, " Bloom said. "The crisis is here."
The Dominion Post reached out to representatives of the Mountaineer Food Bank, but did not hear back in time for this report.
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