GREENSBORO – Over 30 donors and friends of the Hardwick Area Food Pantry (HAFP) came together at a Greensboro home on Saturday, July 19, to hear from Director Stella James, Vermont State Representative Leanne Harple and Vermont Foodbank Manager Carrie Baker Stahler.
Harple opened the meeting by introducing the Vermonters feeding Vermonters program. “This was a program of the Vermont Food Bank that was established through Act 34,” she said.
“The Vermont Food Bank, you probably know, is the state’s largest hunger relief organization, provides 12 to 15 million pounds of food to hungry Vermonters throughout the state, and in 2024 was able to use $700,000 of their $1.3 million state appropriations to support this program, Vermonters Feeding Vermonters, in its FY26 budget, the state appropriated $500,000 to support continued investment into this program, which will provide grants to the Vermont Food Bank to purchase local food from farms for distribution,” said Harple.
The program provides locally grown food from farms and to food shelves, senior centers and schools.
Harple also explained the Crop Cash and Farm Share programs. “When SNAP recipients spend their benefits at participating farmers markets, they receive matching funds from the Crop Cash, funds which effectively double their purchasing power,” she said. This program also boosts farmers. More information is available at vtfarmtoplate.com.
Stahler then shared what she deemed the bad news. Federal funding for food banks under the current administration has reduced the available funding and food.
“There are several ways that policies in the federal government are impacting people’s food security. There are some really direct ways, through reductions in funding to food security programs. There was a local food to schools and child care program where the money was rescinded,” she said.
The Big Beautiful Bill Act restricted funding to SNAP, or food stamps. The cuts included added paperwork, restrictions for asylum seekers and changes in calculations. “So, over time, less and less people will be on the program because they hit speed bumps,” said Stahler.
James, who recently became director of the Hardwick site, then shared what day-to-day interactions at the Hardwick location look like, as well as the yearly numbers. In 2024, they served 836 households, 63 towns, 2,400 individuals and 300 people through home delivery. They have sites in Hardwick, Albany and Craftsbury, as well as a satellite site at the Hardwick Health Center.
“We’re open six days a week, and we serve anyone who comes through our doorstep with a need, so anyone can come with professed need of food, and we will give them a share of meat, produce, shelf stable, goods, dairy and it costs a lot of money,” said James.
People visit the pantry for a range of reasons, including life transitions, large families or emergencies.
“And for me, success is when someone comes to me and asks for help,” she said, “and success as a pantry is being able to provide that in a timely way, in a way that really meets that person’s need.”
She hopes to provide local towns with a sense of abundance, even in the face of federal cuts. James called upon the crowd to make donations of either money, time or food.
“We’re giving people enough energy to then focus on something else in their life that really needs the attention. No one should have to go home to bare cupboards,” said James.
Alex Strand
Alex Strand is a Hardwick Gazette reporting intern for this summer. She is a rising junior at the University of Vermont studying English and Psychology. She is from Boston, MA, but has begun to fall in love with the Northeast Kingdom. In her free time, she likes reading, swimming and canoe tripping.
