Vermont Food Bank asks committee for $5 million to expand emergency readiness after Montpelier pantry flood

The Vermont Food Bank asked the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee at a recent meeting to approve $5,000,000 in FY26 funding to strengthen the state’s emergency food response and buy food for distribution across Vermont.

Eva Shechtman, a low-income self-employed Montpelier resident and a board member of Just Basics Inc., the organization that runs the Montpelier Food Pantry, described how the pantry’s basement location at Trinity Methodist Church was flooded in July 2023 and how volunteers and partners had to create temporary distribution points. “I’m here to support Vermont Food Bank’s 5,000,000 dollar request in the fiscal year 26 budget and specifically 1,750,000.00 in base funding for responsive readiness to ensure the Vermont Food Bank and partners are prepared when disaster strike Vermont communities as well as $3,250,000 to purchase and distribute food and support the network of community based meal sites and food shelves like the Montpelier food pantry,” Shechtman said.

The testimony detailed the pantry’s emergency operations after the flood: volunteers used community coolers and tents, partnered with Community Harvest of Central Vermont for cold storage about five miles outside town, briefly moved indoors to a classroom at the Center for Arts and Learning, and later relocated to the City Center Building on East State Street. Shechtman said the Montpelier pantry has served about 1,200 people each month for the past three years.

John Sales, chief executive officer of the Vermont Food Bank, told the committee the request would fund two linked needs: immediate food purchase and distribution to meet everyday shortfalls, and a standing reserve for “responsive readiness” so the bank can push supplies quickly to communities after disasters. “Embedded in our request … is 1,750,000.00 for what we’re calling responsive readiness,” Sales said. He described scenarios in which a grocery store is flooded or roads are washed out, leaving local food shelves emptied and residents cut off from regular food access.

Sales said the food bank served an average of 72,000 people per month statewide in 2024 and that the organization is purchasing increasing quantities of food to meet demand, including 2,700,000 pounds of produce from Canada last year. He warned that potential tariffs could add between $170,000 and $200,000 to procurement costs. Sales also cited last year’s legislation, Act 143 (S.310), which added food-security language to statewide emergency planning and said the requested funds would deepen the food bank’s partnership with emergency management.

Committee members asked no formal questions during the testimony; no vote or committee action was recorded at the meeting. The Vermont Food Bank reiterated that its FY26 request includes $1,750,000 in base funding for responsive readiness and $3,250,000 for food purchase and distribution, for a total $5,000,000 ask.

The witnesses and advocates asked the committee to consider the request as part of broader emergency planning work to ensure food shelves, meal sites and local partners are able to respond rapidly after floods, storms and other disruptions.