NC Food banks see ‘dire’ days from Trump cuts in food assistance | Opinion

President Donald Trump went to Texas to survey the damage from deadly flooding, but he appears not to care about another disaster unfolding across the nation – growing hunger.

Not only is he ignoring the problem, he’s making it worse by signing his “Big, Beautiful Bill.” which will cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. The program provides monthly food assistance to more than 41 million people, including 1.4 million in North Carolina. Most of the recipients are older, children or disabled.

The nation’s food banks are at ground zero in this disaster, caught between a growing need and the prospect of a sharp drop in federal support.

“Based on what is being proposed, there is no way for us or our partners to ramp up,” said Amy Beros, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. “If I had to sum it up in one word, I would say dire,” she said.

Cuts in food assistance will hit when the need for it is rising. Over the past three years, the number of people served by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina has increased from 450,120 to 607,630.

“The cost of living has increased at a rate that wages have not,” Beros said. “The disparities continue to widen. People are working but are not able to make ends meet.”

The Food Bank of Eastern and Central North Carolina provides millions of meals to people in 34 counties, but that supply is just a small supplement to food assistance under SNAP. For every meal the food bank provides, SNAP provides nine.

Currently, the federal government pays the full cost of SNAP food, with states paying to administer the program. Trump’s bill will require states to pick up a larger share of the total cost after 2026. In North Carolina, that means the legislature will have to approve at least $400 million in additional spending to keep the program as it is, or cut it back.

Reduction in SNAP benefits will in many cases affect people who also will lose Medicaid health insurance under the Trump bill. Uncovered medical costs will reduce the money they have for food.

”It is really a perfect storm that we are creating,” Beros said.

In Chatham County, a food pantry run by the Chatham Outreach Alliance, or CORA, relies on food from the regional food bank, community donations and funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to purchase food from local producers. Cuts to the USDA program have already reduced the pantry’s resources and SNAP cuts will increase an already soaring demand.

Melissa Driver Beard, CORA’s executive director, said demand grew by more than 50 percent since 2023 and is expected to increase by another 40 percent when CORA opens another pantry in Siler City.

“We fulfilled 109,000 requests for food this year. That’s more than the entire population of Chatham County,” Beard said. She added, “If SNAP is cut, our numbers will go through the roof.”

The extent of hunger in the U.S. often goes unnoticed because many people who rely on food stamps and food banks appear to be getting by.

“I just think people don’t realize the depth and breadth of food insecurity in this county,” Beard said. “It can often be a hidden problem. It’s not something anybody brags about. We’re doing all we can to raise awareness of it.”

Cuts in federal food assistance will hurt more than those who need food. It will also reduce sales at small grocery stores and affect the income of farmers who sell their crops through food assistance programs.

Congress still still has time to soften the impact of Trump’s bill on food assistance. Beard hopes it will.

“This problem is not going to go away,” she said. “It’s going to get worse if this legislation turns into reality. it’s just astonishing to me that we are willing to let people go hungry.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2025 at 6:56 AM.