KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsArea food bank concerned about the future

Area food bank concerned about the future

NewsChannel 10

Amarillo, Texas - Possible cuts to an area food bank leads to concerns that those in need won't get what they need.

The shelves in the High Plains Food Bank warehouse could soon be sparse if Congress chooses to cut back on funding for a USDA food program.

It's vital to their operation of feeding more than 8,000 families in the Panhandle each month. The Emergency Food Assistance Program provides most of the veggies, proteins, and meats the High Plains Food Bank distributes.

Zack Wilson with the food bank says, "Right now it accounts for 43% of our total inventory that we have in our warehouse and last year we distributed over 1.3 million pounds of product that comes from this program."

As local donations continue to decline, this aid is becoming even more vital to the alarmingly high number of food insecure people in our area. But U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry says in order to balance the budget, cutbacks on federal programs across the board are inevitable.

Thornberry explains, "Nearly all of them have been increased a tremendous amount. They are going to have to fall back from those increases."

He says each program must be evaluated before cutbacks can be made.

Thornberry adds, "Part of what we really need to do is shrink the number of programs, but hone in on those that are most effective."

While the High Plains Food Bank understands the need for cutbacks, he says the ones for food banks would be devastating.

Wilson says, "What kind of sets us a part and why we are asking for no cuts is because of the basic human need of food and no one should go hungry."

If the cutbacks do occur, the food bank says they will have to rely heavily on community donations and may have to begin purchasing food.