"The USDA’s decision to cut $1 billion worth of food aid is causing layoffs, supply shortfalls, and the end of donations at charitable groups across the country — all as hunger continues to climb."
"Every Friday, as he’s done for the last year and a half, Mark Broyles hops in his truck and drives 20 minutes from his home in Big Stone Gap to Duffield, Virginia, to pick up two boxes of free food. Though their contents are always a surprise, as the retired mechanic describes it, he’s able to get “fresh produce and stuff that a lot of us can’t afford because of the price of groceries.”
On any given week, the boxes, which are provided by Appalachian Sustainable Development, a local nonprofit food hub that also helps small farmers sell fresh goods to public schools and grocery stores, are filled with lean meat, half a gallon of milk, and an assortment of seasonal produce.
It’s been a lifeline for Broyles, who injured his shoulder in 2022 and has been unable to work since. His mother, who broke an arm and is unable to cook, relies on him for meals. Given the variety of ingredients available to him through the food boxes, the 57-year-old has been expanding his cooking repertoire, whipping up chicken, broccoli, and rice casseroles, apple dump cobbler, and roasted butternut squash. The food ends up feeding Broyles’ family of four, his mother, and her husband. Sometimes, if there were unclaimed boxes at the end of the distribution period, Broyles would pick them up and share them with his neighbors."
Ayurella Horn-Muller and Naveena Sadasivam report for Grist March 18, 2025.
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