By Rachel Ravina
KING OF PRUSSIA – Amid rising rates of food insecurity, officials hope a $1.1 million cash infusion will go a long way in the fight against hunger in Montgomery County.
A check presentation Friday afternoon at the Upper Merion Area Community Cupboard highlighted the importance of maintaining operational capacity as thousands grapple with high food costs. The MontCo Anti-Hunger Network received a $500,000 food purchasing grant, while the county’s inaugural Food Policy Council will use $610,000 to fund infrastructure improvement projects for more than a dozen local food pantries.
“We have a serious problem with food insecurity in a place it shouldn’t exist, and what we’re showing today through our commitment … is we care about every one of these families,” said Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairman Neil Makhija.
Nonprofit leaders and elected officials at the local, state and federal levels were in attendance at Friday’s ceremonial proceedings that highlighted a growing crisis of hunger and food insecurity.
‘Transformative’ funding
The MontCo Anti-Hunger Network has 73 food pantries under its umbrella. Montgomery County has generated $1.5 million through the Nourish Montco grant program for the Ambler-based nonprofit assisting food pantries across the county since 2023.
MontCo Anti-Hunger Network Executive Director Shannon Isaacs noted that of the six-figure endowment, 90 percent supplies food while the remaining 10 percent goes toward refrigeration efforts.
“The impact is truly transformative,” Isaacs said. “It makes a really big difference to food pantries.
“Being able to access fresh produce, being able to access healthy food, being able to really fill in gaps, it makes a big difference,” she said.
More than 1.7 million people face hunger in Pennsylvania, according to findings from Feeding America. Makhija noted that 85,000 Montgomery County residents experience food insecurity.
“There are too many families in Montgomery County, in a wealthier county in the wealthiest country in the world, that are still going hungry,” Makhija said.
Montgomery County Commissioner Tom DiBello stressed the need to “make sure these programs are strong and they’re addressing those that are truly in need.”
He also touted the operational efforts of food pantries across the county – both the volunteers who help run them and community members who donate supplies.
“Without those that donate we wouldn’t be able to provide the support that we do as a community,” he said.
While the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis recorded a 2023 median household income for Pennsylvania at $79,820, state Rep. Joe Webster, D-150th Dist., estimated his legislative district’s median household income as twice the state average.
“My house district, we’re a very wealthy community, and yet 20 percent of our school students were eligible for free lunch,” he said.
Webster applauded the MontCo Anti-Hunger Network’s efforts to “provide dignity” for area residents.
“You provide the opportunity for those children to go to school and feel like they’re just like everybody else. They have the same opportunities in front of them,” he said.
Infrastructure Grant Program
In addition to sourcing food, improving infrastructure at local food pantries and producing innovative ideas to serve area residents were top priorities for recipients of the Montgomery County Food Systems Infrastructure Grant Program.
The county’s Office of Food Systems and Food Policy Council organized the distribution of $610,000 in federal COVID-19 relief dollars to support the needs of 13 organizations. Grant awards ranged from $10,000 to $90,000, benefiting agencies across the county. Projects included kitchen installations, transportation purchases, refrigeration and freezer upgrades.
Upper Merion Area Community Cupboard Operations Manager Angela Michael expressed her gratitude to “receive this generous support” from county commissioners.
“Thank you for believing in our mission and thank you for standing with us. Today let us know that we are not alone,” Michael said.
Impacts of federal cuts
Food pantries have maintained their importance as a vital community resource as more and more people rely on their services. The county-issued funds were crucial for those in the social service spaces as Isaacs and others have expressed their concerns about cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program.
Isaacs said she’s heard “there are real troubles right now keeping food pantries’ shelves stocked because these cuts to the federal government are really impacting everyone here on the ground in Montgomery County, programs like this make a transformative difference.”
Makhija estimated that around 67,000 residents rely on SNAP assistance in Montgomery County. He emphasized those figures were not “just numbers and statistics,” but human beings.
“We are burdened with this task of finding a way to continue to serve our residents at a time when the current Congress and the majority are seeking to take away literally from the mouths of people in our communities,” Makhija said.
U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist., spotlighted her counterparts in Montgomery County, underscoring that “this is what good government does.”
“Our budgets reflect our priorities,” Dean said, blasting politicians in Washington for cuts to SNAP, food assistance and other social safety nets affected by the “Big Beautiful Bill” backed by the Trump Administration. Dean stressed that “this ‘big ugly bill’ hurts everyday Americans,” adding that she did not vote for it. “This is the administrations focus. It does not reflect my values.”
“It is the federal responsibility to defend against hunger in this country, and yet this administration was hell bent on cutting that program back, and cutting back benefits for those that are hungry,” Dean said.
Additionally, the impasse within the Pennsylvania General Assembly in Harrisburg to pass a budget continues to hold up funding for programs.
“We are already having to make up for the losses that we’re seeing at the federal and state level,” Makhija said.
Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairwoman Jamila Winder agreed.
“It’s no secret but this is a time of great uncertainty for communities across Montgomery County and … we know that the federal actions have weakened our social safety net, a social safety net we all care so deeply about, and inaction at the state level has left social services and mass transit in limbo,” she said. “We are here today to take action that provides our communities with some sense of certainty.”
