{"id":107350,"date":"2025-08-19T06:56:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=107350"},"modified":"2025-08-19T06:56:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:56:59","slug":"legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Matt Freeze —<\/span><\/p>\n

Legislators were urged to consider contributing to local food banks, as two individuals took the privilege of the floor at Tuesday\u2019s Tioga County Legislature meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kermit Bossard of the Spencer Food Cupboard told legislators about the dramatic increase in food assistance needs for local families.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bossard said the small, rural, poor municipality of Spencer reported that the number of families in need of food assistance has gone up considerably.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn pre-COVID numbers, we were serving 931 families, or about 2,400 individuals,\u201d Bossard said. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re serving about 2,500 families, pushing 7,000 individuals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s about a 250 percent increase, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur food cost, pre-COVID, was approximately $18,000 \u2014 now, it\u2019s $90,000,\u201d he said. \u201cFood Bank of the Southern Tier kicks in a little bit because they get grants from the federal government and the state, and they pass them on to us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bossard said that including the grant assistance, their food costs still come in at about $52,000, representing a 400% increase.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur numbers are going up this year again, as they have been \u2014 it is a concern,\u201d Bossard said. \u201cThe cost and number of families have not yet been fully realized here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Working with the food bank, Bossard said he\u2019s spoken with many families.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they talk about is the rents going up, utilities going up, cost of food going up,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s much more demand we see coming to Spencer\u2019s Food Cupboard. It\u2019s tough, and it\u2019s a small community with not a lot of industry. The need, by the way, is not political.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bossard told legislators that the Spencer operation survives on about 75 volunteers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the question is, why isn\u2019t the county helping those pantries out there,\u201d he asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bossard said benefits and free food are being cut now, not in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf this continues, we\u2019re going to have to really look at how we feed the hungry \u2014 after all, it\u2019s a moral issue, not a political issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only thing keeping our food coverage together is grants and foundations, and I don\u2019t know how long we can keep that up. How long are they going to do that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bossard said the county used to help fund food banks through Tioga Opportunities, and he would like to see that assistance again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust a little bit of help,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not asking you for the whole $50,000 \u2014 last year, we had 125 different donors, residents of Spencer, give to our food pantry. So, we\u2019re not asking for all of it; we\u2019re just asking for a slice. Something we can depend on and go back to year after year that would help us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah DeFrank of the Southern Tier Food Bank also spoke to legislators during privilege of the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

DeFrank told legislators that from a food bank perspective locally in the Southern Tier, there\u2019s been a loss equivalent to 15 tractor-trailers’ worth of USDA food.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was prime, perishable, nutrient-dense food,\u201d DeFrank said. \u201cThe cancellations represent an equivalent of 215,408 meals, valued at over $434,000 in food.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

DeFrank said that foods have been replaced with similar weight but different product types.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what we were getting before or what we were scheduled to receive were perishables like meat, dairy, and eggs \u2014 things like that,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we received was kind of brief fruits and nuts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

DeFrank said the supply basically transformed from meal items into \u201csnacks and trail mix.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Legislative Chairwoman Marte Sauerbrey told the Morning Times that the county is quite a long way into next year\u2019s budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re too far into the budget, and at this time, we\u2019re not going to budget for additional funds,\u201d she said. \u201cThat would be a decision for the Legislature for the \u201927 budget, so they would decide that next year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, it remains to be seen what impact cuts have on a local level, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of this is rumored,\u201d she said. \u201cFor instance, there were HEAP concerns that it would be taken away, and it\u2019s not,\u201d she said. \u201cThe other thing is that SNAP funding cuts are largely focused on people receiving funding who really didn\u2019t qualify.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people were not telling the truth on the forms, she continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re so efficient here, we haven\u2019t had much of that,\u201d Sauerbrey said. The SNAP benefits will still be available for those people who qualify, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, some people are going to be required to either work 20 hours a week or volunteer for 20 hours a week, or pursue education,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they do that, they can continue to receive the benefits.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still maintaining those benefits,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sauerbrey said that while she supports local food banks, and that there very well could be local impacts from the federal cuts, some of the public concern is born out of fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the truth of it is, once we start [funding], we will always have to continue,\u201d she said. \u201cThe individual food banks do fundraisers that support them, and that\u2019s tough on Spencer because if it\u2019s a lower-income population, they\u2019re less [able] to donate to their community. It\u2019s a hard decision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But again, in just a few months, the county will be signing off on next year\u2019s budget, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Freeze — Legislators were urged to consider contributing to local food banks, as two individuals took the privilege of the floor at Tuesday\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":94125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLegislators urged to help fund local food banks - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matt Freeze — Legislators were urged to consider contributing to local food banks, as two individuals took the privilege of the floor at Tuesday\u2019s...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T10:56:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/\",\"name\":\"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T10:56:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\",\"name\":\"Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\",\"name\":\"psadvert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"psadvert\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/psadvert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks - Owego Pennysaver Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks - Owego Pennysaver Press","og_description":"By Matt Freeze — Legislators were urged to consider contributing to local food banks, as two individuals took the privilege of the floor at Tuesday\u2019s...","og_url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/","og_site_name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/","article_published_time":"2025-08-19T10:56:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":200,"url":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"psadvert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"psadvert","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/","name":"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks - Owego Pennysaver Press","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-19T10:56:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/01\/Tioga-County-Emblem.jpg","width":200,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/08\/19\/legislators-urged-to-help-fund-local-food-banks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legislators urged to help fund local food banks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/","name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492","name":"psadvert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"psadvert"},"url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/psadvert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107351,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107350\/revisions\/107351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}