Food Bank of the Southern Tier Director of Policy, Programs and Partnerships Sarah DeFrank told the Tompkins County Health and Human Services Committee on Aug. 20 that requests for food in Tompkins County rose sharply in 2024 and that the food bank and its partners distributed roughly 3,600,000 pounds of food to the county last year.

Why it matters: The food bank said the value of food and program services to Tompkins County in 2024 was roughly $4.6 million while the direct cost to local pantry partners after grants was about $390,000. Those figures, the food bank said, illustrate how state and federal supports multiply local donations and retail rescue to serve residents who rely on emergency food access.

DeFrank, who identified herself as the food bank’s director of policy, programs and partnerships, laid out program and partnership counts for Tompkins County: 19 pantries, two meal sites, five school food centers, 15 backpack programs, one mobile food pantry in Freeville and four senior mobile food pantries. She said the food bank has added about 14 retail rescue partners in the county.

DeFrank told the committee that requests for food in Tompkins County were up 21% from 2023 and up 121% since February 2019, the pre-pandemic baseline the food bank uses. She said the total pounds distributed in 2024 equated to about 3,000,000 meals. The food bank’s internal accounting, she said, produced an average cost to agencies of about $0.11 per pound after subtracting grants and donated product.

On public supports, DeFrank said, “SNAP brings $1,500,000 into Tompkins County,” citing state caseload figures, and added that those dollars produce additional local economic activity. She warned that proposed or anticipated changes to SNAP work rules and other eligibility adjustments could increase demand on local food partners and said the food bank is running financial risk scenarios to prepare for cuts.

Committee members asked about donated sources and partner costs. DeFrank described donated product as a mix of national donations (via Feeding America), semi-local farm donations and retail rescue coordinated by a local retail-rescue coordinator. She said larger pantries with greater service hours receive larger allocations of grant-eligible product; smaller pantries carry their own operating budgets in addition to food bank support.

DeFrank also flagged particular populations of concern if SNAP or other supports change: people ages 55–64, parents of older school-age children, veterans, people experiencing homelessness, former foster youth and newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees. “We are very concerned about those populations,” she said, and described ongoing risk analysis at the food bank to estimate additional need.

The food bank invited the committee to the upcoming TST BOCES school food center ribbon-cutting and asked for continued support for state programs the organization uses, including HIPNAP (Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program) and Nourish New York.

More details: DeFrank provided line-item summaries in her slides showing federal, state and local grant sources, and explained the food bank’s equipment-and-repair grant that provided $40,000 this year to help small pantries buy or repair refrigeration and cold-storage equipment.

What’s next: The food bank said it will share further findings from its financial and caseload scenario planning as they become available; committee members and staff encouraged continued coordination between the food bank and county services.