U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5, of Swarthmore, took a tour of the newly renovated Share Food Program warehouse in Holmes on Friday and learned of the downstream ramifications federal actions are having on this Delaware County food distribution service.
Share Food Program is the area’s leading agency for state and federal food distribution and it broke ground on its 9,000-square-foot warehouse at 101 Amosland Road in Holmes in 2023 after signing a contract with Delaware County to be the lead agency to distribute food in the county through the State Food Purchase Program.
Since then, the program has distributed more than 3.6 million pounds of food to Delaware County residents and held a ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly refurbished warehouse in early June. As they wait for the certificate of occupancy, they anticipating operating out of the facility by the end of the year.
On Friday, Scanlon took a tour of the site and heard about how federal cuts are impacting these services to the needy.
“We’ve had a 120% increase in folks coming to us since January 2022,” George Matysik, executive director of the Share Food Program, said, as he voiced concern for the 150,000 Pennsylvanians that will potentially lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and decreases his program’s experienced because of cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We’ve lost $8.5 million in total funding to our food bank,” explains George Matysik, executive director of the Share Food Program to U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore, about how federal cuts are impacting the Share Food Program. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
In the 5th U.S. Congressional District, 8,284 residents are poised to lose their SNAP benefits and 19,285 residents are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage. With the passage of the “one big beautiful bill,” SNAP is expected to be cut by 20%, according to Scanlon’s office.
“President Trump’s huge spending bill is a massive betrayal of the American people that will leave families across our country, and right here in PA-5, with higher costs and harder times,” Scanlon said when the bill was passed.
On Friday, she was told of impacts locally to the Share Food Program.
“We’ve lost $8.5 million in total funding to our food bank,” Matysik said, noting that it came without any notice. “And now on top of that, you layer increasing food prices and instead of putting water on that fire, putting gasoline on that fire and making the prices increase more. These are the challenges that we are dealing with.”
The Share Food Program serves 20 food pantries on a weekly basis and the Holmes warehouse will be capable of storing 375,000 pounds of food with refrigeration and freezing capacities.
Another concern Matysik voiced was how tariffs are going to impact his service.
The impact of tariffs are another concern, Matysik tells Scanlon. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
“We often get food from the Port of Philadelphia but the Port of Wilmington has a lot of produce coming in right now,” he said, adding that he is concerned with how the tariffs are going to impact the viability of getting the food they need from Central and South America.
“The Port of Philadelphia, the Port of Wilmington, both total imports, about 85% is produce coming from Central and South America,” Matysik explained, noting that shippers may start to be more cautious on the number of shipping containers they send here because of the increase in prices from Central and South America.
The Share Food Program works with Sharing Excess and others to get extra food or food that has to move quickly from the ports to move it to food pantries.
“Working for an organization like Share Food Program, when there are macro level policy changes that happen in Washington, we feel it in very real way here in our region because of the scale of the work that we do,” Matysik said.
Scanlon thanked him for the service he is providing and explained he is not alone.
At a recent town hall she held, the congresswoman heard from a Delaware County restaurant owner.
“They can’t get coffee because the coffee importers are not importing at the same levels, and then we don’t grow it here,” she said.
The Share Food Program is also the only nonprofit in the country that manages the National School Lunch Program, which it does in the Delaware Valley region, serving about 800 schools, including all of the public districts in Delaware County.
Matysik shows Scanlon freezing unit at the Share Food Program warehouse. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
On the tour, Matysik showed the congresswoman the refrigeration unit that will hold food for the food pantries and the freezing unit for the school lunches as about 90% of the food that goes to their school partners is frozen.
Scanlon noted how the lunch program serves dual needs as it addresses poor kids needing food in order to learn but then the influx of the commodities, how useful it is for the farming community.
Another challenge concerning Matysik is the cuts to the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which is how his program serves the Delaware County food pantries, but he’s waiting to see what will happen and he hopes it’s restored.
Over at partner pantry Loaves and Fishes in Prospect Park, the Rev. Chris Heisey-Terrell, pastor of Prospect Hill Baptist Church and director of Loaves and Fishes, talked about the impact he’s seeing.
He explained that Loaves and Fishes serves 350 to 400 households a month, or approximately 1,500 different families over the course of a year.
“Our numbers have gone up slightly,” he said. “This month, we’re seeing more families. Over the past couple of years, the demographics have shifted. We used to see smaller households. Now, we’re seeing larger households.”
The Share Food Program warehouse at 101 Amosland Road in Holmes is anticipated to start operating by the end of the year to distribute food from this location to Delaware County food pantries. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
The Share Food Program administers the State Food Purchasing Program, which provides cash grants to food banks to provide food to needy individuals and has been targeted by the Trump administration for cuts.
“That just got demolished,” Heisey-Terrell said, noting that previously provided 30% to 40% of the costs of their food bank. “We’re in this limbo space where we know we’re not going to be able to provide the same amount of food.”
In past times, the pastor said, private donations have been able to fill gaps. However, he said last year, Loaves and Fishes received 8,000 pounds less in private donations.
That combined with cuts to SNAP has Heisey-Terrell concerned about serving an increase in clients.
“More people are going to be driven to food pantries and we have less food to give,” he said. “It’s not looking good on the ground at all. I’m sad and I’m scared because our numbers are going up. We already know we have less money to spend.”
Matysik said it’s about a matter of priorities.
He said that the cost for a school lunch is $4.10 each and that the cost of a B-2 bomber is $4.1 billion, although some sources say it’s closer to $2 billion.
“How many kids could be fed for one B-2 bomber?” Matysik asked.