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Free Store Food Bank tells council demand for food and housing aid surged after SNAP interruption
Summary
Free Store Food Bank told the Cincinnati committee that food distribution and housing‑stability services have risen sharply after recent SNAP interruptions; agency leaders asked the city for sustained funding to meet growing need and to support wrap‑around programs that keep people housed.
Angela King, director of social services at Free Store Food Bank, told the Cincinnati City Council Committee for Youth and Human Services that the agency’s food and housing‑stability work is under growing strain after a recent SNAP disruption.
“We always rise to the occasion,” King said, describing a network of more than 575 partner agencies across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana that the Free Store supports. She said the organization is not only providing meals but also housing, utilities, furniture, transportation and employment assistance as part of its “wrap‑around” services.
Lindsay Starry, the Free Store’s director of annual fundraising operations, confirmed the presentation’s city‑focused numbers and said the agency’s markets and customer‑facing services are concentrated in Cincinnati. On the slides, the Free Store reported marked year‑over‑year increases in demand and said it has had to buy more food after a drop in government product.
King and Starry also described stabilization and shelter‑diversion work: the Free Store said it has expanded emergency rent and utility assistance and pays some back arrears to keep people housed. King noted that the agency allows families to shop twice a month at market locations during summer months and that holiday distributions produce spikes in service counts.
Council members pressed for context and detail. Council member Ryan James asked whether the figures cover Cincinnati specifically; Starry said the food figures shown on the slides are for the City of Cincinnati. James also asked about trends over 5–10 years; Starry said Feeding America benchmarks and local data show food insecurity at a 10‑year high locally.
The committee heard about workforce‑training components tied to the Free Store’s programs: Starry described a 10‑week Cincinnati Cooks program that results in food‑service credentials and a Lift (warehousing) training program offered with Gateway, both of which can be combined with case management and rent/utility assistance.
The brief presentation and follow‑up discussion closed with the Free Store reiterating a need for additional funding to maintain both food distributions and the non‑food services that help families stay housed. The committee did not take formal funding action at the meeting.
