Vermont Food Bank asks House Human Services Committee for $5 million to buy local produce, warns cuts would reduce purchases and raise distribution demand

At a House Human Services Committee hearing, Carrie Sailor, senior manager of government and public affairs at the Vermont Food Bank, asked legislators to approve a $5 million package to sustain the food bank’s ability to buy Vermont-grown food and support the statewide network that distributes it.

Sailor told the committee the bank serves about 72,000 people a month, distributed roughly 14.5 million pounds of food last year and is on track for about 15 million pounds this year. She said increased purchased food — now roughly 25% of distributed food, up from about 13.8% in 2018 — makes local purchasing the fastest-growing and most costly part of the food bank’s operations.

The request Sailor outlined asks for $1,750,000 in base funding for “responsive readiness” to respond to disasters and ongoing needs, and $3,250,000 for food purchase and distribution and to bolster…