Food insecurity in the Rogue Valley is growing

(Ashland Food Bank)Amey Broeker is Executive Director of the Ashland Community Food Bank. She joins the Exchange to provide an update on the current state of food insecurity in the Rogue Valley. She's joined by Amber Ferguson, Executive Director of Rogue Food Unites.
Amber Ferguson, Director of Rogue Food Unites and Amey Boeker, Director of the Ashland Community Food Bank, join JPR Host Mike Green.(JPR Senior Producer, Natalie Golay)The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently canceled $500 million in food deliveries across the country, according to The Washington Post. That follows an announcement that the USDA would be cutting more than $1 billion in funding for local food banks and schools by eliminating two programs: one that pays for schools and food banks to be able to buy from local farmers and another centered on deliveries of food.
Last month, the President of the Oregon Food Bank said the state is seeing the worst rates of hunger since the Great Depression, according to OPB reports. The FISH of Roseburg Food Pantry, which offers emergency food for people in Douglas County, revealed that in the past year they’ve gone from serving more than 750 families per month to over 1,000. It receives no federal funding. But due to cuts in federal funding to various other programs, the trickle down effect has exacerbated hunger and increased the traffic at the FISH.