(not) Feeding America
“A lot of that food was really good food. It was protein.“
Ken Estelle, President & CEO of Feeding America West Michigan
(via Michigan in Pictures) Fox 17 West Michigan reported on Monday that Feeding America West Michigan has learned that the USDA has “paused” 32 truckloads of food scheduled to arrive from April to June.
The organization is now working to replace about 600,000 pounds of meat, cheeses and milk that would have come from these USDA shipments. “We’re looking at our current food suppliers, and donors, but we’re also looking at the fact that we’re going to have to purchase food in order to fill in some of the gaps,” Estelle explained.
A USDA grant allowing the food bank to purchase from Michigan farms was also initially suspended but has since been reinstated through October following meetings with elected officials. “We’re just getting into the Michigan growing season and we have made commitments to a lot of these smaller farms of what we would be able to purchase from them. So they were… the farms were also depending on us to be able to be one of their customers for their products,” said Estelle.
No word yet on if hungry folks in West Michigan will be able to “pause” their hunger, so consider a donation to Feeding America West Michigan or a food bank right here in Leelanau like Leelanau Christian Neighbors, the Empire Pantry, or the GT Band’s Pantry. Lots of great organizations in TC and Benzie like BACN & Leelanau.com client St. Philip’s church who provide a full-featured baby pantry!
Mark took this photo back in March of 2017. See lots more from Northern Leelanau County in his East of Leland gallery on Flickr.
