HARDWICK – Despite last week’s announcement that the Holland food bank will be closing at the end of September, and July’s staffing cutbacks at the Vermont Foodbank, on the heels of its losing 20% of USDA food supplies in April, Stella James with the Hardwick Area Food Pantry said last week, “we haven’t yet been impacted.”
“The Holland Food Shelf will close the last week of September,” they wrote in an August 26 social media post. The closure was “Due to the sharp increase in rent and loss of the SNAP Federal Grant. It has been a pleasure to serve our community.”
The food pantry, located along the Canadian border in Holland, opened in 2021 and has grown to serve almost 700 people each month this year, noted VTDigger in a recent story. $25,000 in Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program Education, grant funds that have supported food purchases, outreach, training and wages were eliminated next year with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4.
The Hardwick Area Food Pantry is a multi-site food share pantry with locations in Hardwick, Craftsbury and Albany. Its mission is to expand food access and choice in our region. Information about its locations and hours can be found at nourishhardwick.org/.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
