What are hoped-to-be short term issues surfacing as UCHRA prepares to hand off its commodity program to Tennessee Food Banks.
Executive Director Mark Farley said the food banks are unable to add capacity, meaning less food will be distributed.
“[Food banks] reached out to us, I mean, but we’ve lost our funding,” Farley said. “I don’t have any manpower because I don’t have the money to pay those staff anymore, so we can’t partner with them. So every community, they’re going to have to try and find another group on top of who’s working with them now to try and distribute this food.”
Farley said he would like to get in contact with the Department of Agriculture and request funding, so UCHRA can help ease the transition’s early stages. Farley said the Department of Agriculture has historically given some $100,000 a year to fund UCHRA’s distribution efforts
Farley said Second Harvest covers most Upper Cumberland counties. He said they are concerned about a drop in service.
Farley said there are many great non-profit agencies and churches, but he is unsure how many might be able to help absorb new recipients.
“I’ve been honest with Second Harvest, it may be that long term they’re better than us and, and we may need to step out and they need to may take over,” Farley said. “I don’t deny that because they’re giving more and different types of food that we can’t do. At minimum though, that transition is important.”
Farley said that money was spent to hire employees, who would bag and give out the food. Farley said UCHRA contributed some of its own money as well.
“I’m afraid what has happened, to be quite honest, is you’ve got new staff at the Department of Agriculture that does not understand how this program works,” Farley said. “And they have made decisions that’s going to have some negative effect here in the short term future sometime around September and October.”
UCHRA will continue their commodity program until the contract expires at the end of September, and food banks will take over on October 1.
Farley said UCHRA will draft a letter with more information for the Department of Agriculture.
