LOGAN – Utah’s non profit food organization, The Food Justice Coalition, could be forced to close their doors in the next 30 days due to the Federal Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and it’s policies changing because of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
The bill tights the eligibility requirements as the demand for food assistance increases.
The Food Justice Coalition was first started during the COVID-19 pandemic and has served more than 75,000 meals across Salt Lake Valley. With the funding cuts looming and new requirements to verify the recipient’s income, residency and citizenship, the coalition is facing up to $50,000 in budget shortfalls.
The coalition will suspend their operations for the next two weeks to focus on urgent fundraising efforts.
Since the Cache Community Food Pantry in Logan helps more locally, they are not as affected by the Big Beautiful Bill that is making changes to SNAP.
The Food Pantry’s director, Mathew Whitaker, has not seen any changes with the USDA since the Big Beautiful Bill was passed.
The pantry has been a non-profit for 35 years and has been helping the community and families by giving groceries to families in need. The Cache Valley and Logan community have been giving back to the pantry by donating food and money for the building to still have its lights on and running.
The Food Pantry serves 350 families weekly and distributes nearly 2 million pounds of food annually. Besides receiving support from charitable organizations and families, the pantry receives a lot of donations from local grocery stores.
“Anything close to expiration date that they can’t sell because they have newer stuff there,” explained Whitaker. “They’ll put it together for us. We’ll go pick it up. You know, if the box of Lucky Charms has a dinged corner, you know, we’re funny, we want the perfect box so that one stays on the shelf. Well, they’ll…send that to us. Or something has a torn label, they’ll send that to us as well.”
The pantry also supports many agencies, which are either senior centers, CAPSA and others, which can help these organizations save significant costs and divert that money back into helping people who are in need.
They also assist Utah State University with their food pantry. Utah State picks up their food from the food pantry to help single students. But with married families who have a spouse going to Utah State, they are able to submit an application and receive food from the Food Pantry, as well.
There are only two requirements to get food from the Food Pantry, the first is be within their income guidelines and be a resident in Cache Valley.
“Now, that being said, that we have financial limit if somebody comes in that’s over the limit, I’ll look and see if they have any extenuating circumstances. Do they have medical bills? Do they have any other thing that’s above and beyond the normal? And if so, then we’ll put them on our program,” added Whitaker
Whitaker wants to let the community know that he is thankful for the continued support everyone has given with their donations through food or money.
“We do not exist without the community’s support,” he explained. “So, it’s really the community making this possible.”