Each year, we work to bring the perspectives of our partners and neighbors to our federal delegation in Washington, D.C. This year’s visit was part of an exciting few days on Capitol Hill with our national partners, Feeding America, and food banks from around the country who participated in the March Feeding America Fly-in. We joined together in advocating for a strong, bipartisan farm bill, more support for foundational food programs that support our neighbors like The Emergency Food Access Program (TEFAP), 3SquaresVT (SNAP), and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. We were joined by food bank partners and neighbors across the country to speak with congressional members making decisions right now about programs that impact people who use food access programs every day.
This year’s participants from Vermont were Amy Scott, food shelf manager at BROC Community Action’s food access locations in Rutland and Bennington; Suzanne Routhier, director of food access at Northeast Kingdom Community Action operating food shelves in St. Johnsbury, Newport, Canaan, and Island Pond; and Vermont Foodbank’s Senior Manager of Government and Public Affairs, Carrie Stahler. Together, we brought the voices of agencies doing this work of keeping the pantry shelves stocked every day, and to carry the voices of the neighbors who use their services and food access programs to the halls of Congress. This visit was an important opportunity to bring new and different perspectives to Washington, D.C. and a reminder that creating a food secure Vermont for everyone who lives here takes collaboration, dedication, and stepping outside of our comfort zone. Including and centering people who are directly working with and impacted by policy choices about food access programs makes this work even stronger.
Amy and Suzanne spoke directly with Senator Sanders and Senator Welch about their work, the needs of their neighbors and communities, and potential impacts federal changes could have on food access and the financial stability of people who use their food shelves and anti-poverty programs.
The importance of support for 3SquaresVT was underscored by Amy who shared the impact she saw on her food shelf when 3SquaresVT pandemic emergency allotments ended in 2023—there was an immediate and sustained increase in people using the BROC Food Shelf in Rutland from April 2023 onward. This increased need, in turn, means that Amy’s work is even more reliant on federal food programs like TEFAP.
Suzanne shared that TEFAP foods keep the shelves stocked at the four food shelves she serves two of which are in Essex County, the Vermont county with the highest rates of poverty. Suzanne was able to talk about the neighbors in her community who have benefited from food access supports, including one family in which parents were skipping meals to ensure their children had enough to eat before they came to the food shelf—afterward they said they had not had to skip meals since using food shelf services, and now, their 3SquaresVT benefits last all month. Stories like these demonstrate the critical intersections between 3SquaresVT, TEFAP, and CSFP.
We made several requests of our Congressional offices and were met with resounding support for these food access programs that ensure Vermonters can put food on their tables:
- Protect 3SquaresVT (called SNAP federally)—right now, these benefits are in danger of being reduced through the federal budget process. This would mean that existing benefits, which often do not last participants the full month, could be reduced, causing further food insecurity for neighbors. More than 40,000 households use 3SquaresVT, and hundreds of retailers and farms in VT benefit economically from the more than $155 million in annual benefits spent in Vermont. Any reductions would not only impact neighbors who have low incomes and use this program to put food on the table but also have a detrimental impact on the Vermont economy. Learn more about SNAP.
- Strengthen The Emergency Food Access program (TEFAP) with additional federal funding. This program provides U.S.-produced commodity foods to food shelves and meal sites across Vermont at no cost to those agencies and no cost to neighbors. This is a critical source of food for people across Vermont. Adequate investment in TEFAP benefits both people using food services and U.S. farms. Across the country, 50 million people use food bank programs each year, and this is a key program that supports the neighbors visiting these food banks and their partners every day. Learn more about TEFAP.
- Protect and strengthen the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). This program supports older adults with food boxes filled with food from US producers each month. Like TEFAP, this program provides food directly to people who need it and is critical to supporting seniors across Vermont. Learn more about CSFP.
Both Amy and Suzanne shared that their own food shelf budgets do not stretch as far as they used to and food from Vermont Foodbank is critical to helping meet neighbors’ needs. This includes produce which Vermont Foodbank purchases from both Vermont farms and nearby large-scale farms in Canada. Purchases from Canada give Vermont Foodbank and our partners year-round access to fresh produce like potatoes, carrots, and onions with much lower shipping costs and emissions than purchasing from farms in Florida or California. Both Amy and Suzanne shared that neighbors come in seeking fresh vegetables and these products quickly fill shoppers’ baskets. Tariffs on Canadian goods will increase the cost of produce that Vermont Foodbank orders from Canada by $100,000 to $150,000. Together with our congressional delegation, we continue to identify potential ways to carve out charitable food from tariff impacts.
This visit was a meaningful opportunity to sit down with Vermont’s congressional delegation to share the importance of supporting programs that feed people in Vermont every day, to share the impact of these programs, and to encourage continued support for these critical programs throughout the federal budget and farm bill processes.
Join us and share your story about why 3SquaresVT, TEFAP, or CSFP are important to you. Real stories from real people real people make a difference in ensuring that everyone in Vermont has enough nourishing food.
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