Common Heart scrambles to meet record demand after facing 50% reduction in TEFAP funding.
UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A major cut in federal funding has left Union County’s largest food assistance network scrambling to meet record-high demand at a time when food insecurity continues to rise in the region.
Common Heart food pantry, a Second Harvest Food Bank partner, was informed on April 22 that due to a 50% cut in federal funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), it would not receive any food allocations for the remainder of April.
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The outlook for May distributions remains unclear.
“Something that we were used to having so much of just all of a sudden be gone,” Ryan Kolbe, Common Heart Pantry director, said “It’s bad. It caught us by surprise.”
The sudden reduction represents a significant blow to the organization’s ability to serve vulnerable populations. According to Kolbe, the funding cut translates to a dramatic decrease in available food supplies.
“That amounted to about 400,000 pounds of food for us last year,” Kolbe said. “So now we’re looking at 200,000 pounds of food. So it’s a major source of a lot of the food that we distribute.”
TEFAP, which is administered through Second Harvest, has been a critical source of nonperishables, meat, and produce for Common Heart’s network of food pantries across Union County.
As of May 2, the organization reported having only three small boxes of one-pound tubes of ground beef provided by TEFAP remaining in its freezer, with those supplies expected to be depleted by Monday.
The timing couldn’t be worse for the nonprofit. Common Heart currently serves approximately 8,000 people monthly in Union County — a record high. Their evening pantry location at Benton Heights Presbyterian Church in Monroe recently set another record, serving 154 families in a single night.
Without help from federal funds, Kolbe’s team is refocusing their strategy.
“We can concentrate on staple items,” Kolbe said. “We can try to make sure that, you know, we always have a can of tuna for anybody that comes through, you know, beans or noodles or rice, things like that.”
The impact extends beyond just food availability. For many clients, the pantry’s assistance allows them to redirect limited resources to other essential needs.
“It’s gonna be tough for the neighbors who came through expecting to get some assistance, because every dollar that they don’t have to spend on food is money that they can spend on gas or keeping their car running or paying their rent, and that’s what we want,” Kolbe said. “We want to help people.”
Common Heart is currently the largest food pantry network in Union County and offers specialized delivery for neighbors with dietary restrictions due to conditions like diabetes, heart disease, or gluten intolerance.
In 2024, the organization provided groceries to 22,093 neighbors an average of six times through 13 pantry outreach locations.
According to Feeding America statistics, over 25,000 adults and children in Union County are hungry or facing the threat of hunger — about 10.5% of county residents. This represents an increase of approximately 3.5% (7,300 people) since 2023.
The organization has witnessed this increase firsthand, with 9,372 individuals from 2,476 households visiting one of their food pantries for the first time last year alone. Of those individuals, 3,961 were children 17 and younger. An estimated one in six children in Union County now live in homes facing food insecurity.
Common Heart staff are actively seeking alternative sources of food and support to bridge the unexpected gap. They are asking community members to help by advocating for neighbors facing food insecurity by contacting federal representatives about the funding cuts.
Donations of nonperishable food items can be dropped off at Common Heart, 116 Business Park Drive in Indian Trail, using the donation boxes located at the front of the building.
Contact Myles Harris at [email protected] and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
