MAHA Food Boxes Could Replace SNAP, Senior Food & More Low Income Relief

[Wiz Imp]

25. You don't know what you're talking about.

The organization you linked to Share Food Program is a social services organization working for hunger relief in the Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania, United States. It serves as a food bank to the communities in accordance with USDA civil rights regulations and feeds more than 1 million people each month in Philadelphia and the suburbs. Share Food Program is the largest hunger-relief agency in the Greater Philadelphia area. In addition, it's affiliated with many different FEDERAL assistance programs including: CSFP (Commodity Supplemental Food Program), FMNP (Farmers Market Nutrition Program), NSLP (National School Lunch Program), SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program). These programs are operated in every state and overseen by the USDA.

The video in this post is about a Trump Administration plan is to replace the CSFP and possibly all of the rest of those USDA programs (including others which I didn't list).

This article explains it as well:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-maha-food-box-replace-csfp-low-income-seniors/
Trump wants to replace grocery aid for seniors with "MAHA food boxes"

"President Trump's proposed budget for next year could include big changes for a small food aid program that helps low-income senior citizens supplement their diets. Under the plan, funding for the program — called the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) — would be cut, and seniors instead would receive what the Trump administration is calling "MAHA food boxes" filled with products sourced directly from farmers.

The CSFP helps about 730,000 low-income seniors annually through its $389 million budget, according to the USDA. By comparison, the food-stamp program spent about $100 billion last year to provide assistance to 41 million Americans, according to the USDA.

"MAHA boxes would be more wholesome foods, and similar to the Farmers to Families Food Box, fresh foods," the agency said. It added that "the most obvious" benefit would be "the removal of administrative middlemen from the distribution of food." The Farmers to Families Food Box, a pandemic food program that ran from May 2020 to May 2021, relied on more than 200 contractors to deliver millions of boxes to needy families, according to a 2021 analysis from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The study found that the 21 biggest contractors were collectively awarded $3 billion to deliver the boxes.

The video explains how this program was a disaster. It was full of waste, fraud & abuse that served to line the pockets of many contractors, many of which had no experience or expertise in food assistance.

In the meantime, Matysik said he's worried about the future of the CSFP program and the seniors who rely on it. "Our seniors in particular are already hurting," he said. "We're hearing about cuts to the SNAP program. We're seeing about cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. We're really worried about our senior citizens in this funding environment from our federal government right now."

More on the disastrous pandemic program which they want to pattern this after.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/549059-ending-the-food-box-program-was-the-right-move/
Ending the food box program was the right move

Trying to achieve multiple goals with the same program often leads to inefficient and costly outcomes and the food box program was no exception. First, the food box program duplicated efforts of a long standing USDA program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP). It contracted with new vendors, many of which had no experience in running food distribution programs. Many counties were unserved because of distribution issues, including many rural counties. Moreover, distribution costs were often absorbed by food pantries, food banks and other nonprofits that were already struggling to meet the increased demand for food caused by the pandemic.

And the program was costly. As outlined in a recent Harvard study, while the cost of an average food box was around $30, the unit costs varied widely with some boxes costing as high as $200. Contents of the boxes varied from week to week so those picking up the boxes did not always know what they were getting from week to week. So-called combo boxes included dairy products and fruits and vegetables, which often necessitated unpacking and sorting boxes at food banks. There were food safety challenges as well as boxes of meat and dairy sometimes went without refrigeration for extended periods at distribution sites.

Because of the slow recovery and lingering impacts of the pandemic, emergency food demand remains high. Feeding America reports a 55 percent increase in the number of people seeking help from food banks during the pandemic. Providing assistance to food banks and food pantries to meet those demands is a more cost-effective way of meeting emergency food assistance needs than through inefficient programs such as the food box program. It is far better for USDA to use its existing food distribution programs like EFAP that have a long history of providing funding for food bank purchases