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Vermont food bank asks legislature for $5 million to formalize disaster response and buy local food
Summary
At a committee hearing, the food bank detailed a $5 million funding request split among emergency readiness, a Vermont-grown purchasing program tied to H.167, and grants for food shelves and meal sites; the request is not in the governor's budget and would be administered through Vermont Emergency Management.
The Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry Committee heard from a food bank representative asking the Legislature for $5 million to formalize the nonprofit's role in disaster response and expand purchases of Vermont-grown food.
John, a food bank representative, told the committee the request is split into three parts: $1.75 million for "responsive readiness" to stage water and ready-to-eat meals at the food bank's distribution centers; $2 million for a "Vermonters Feeding Vermonters" program to buy Vermont-grown products (associated with H.167); and $1.25 million for operating costs and grants to roughly 225 network partners including food shelves, meal sites and senior centers.
The request matters because the food bank already plays an informal role in emergencies and seeks a formal agreement with Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) to clarify when and how it would be called on. "The food bank's been providing the service to the state for many, many years, you know, kind of…
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