For food banks and their partnering hunger-relief agencies that help feed thousands of Southwest Florida residents facing hunger or food insecurity, recent federal funding cuts are posing significant challenges. And those challenges will be multiplied, organizations say, if major cuts are made in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. At press time, Trump’s budget had been passed by the United States Senate and sent back to the House of Representatives with 20% in recommended cuts to SNAP. Food banks in SWFL and across the country have been dealing with cuts imposed by the federal Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year, seeing reductions of more than $1 billion affecting programs including the Local Food Purchase Assistance program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program. Harry Chapin Food Bank: supply down, demand up Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, with distribution centers in Fort Myers and Naples, was founded in 1983. The largest food bank in the region, HCFB works with partner agencies to distribute food to more than 250,000 people monthly in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties. More than 39.5 million pounds of food — the equivalent of 32 million meals — was distributed across the region last year, according to the organization’s 2024 Community Impact Report. HCFB is serving about 75% more people now than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to president and CEO Richard LeBer. He said the organization receives about 20% of its food from the LFPA and TEFAP government programs, which have been cut 20%. LeBer said he anticipates another 20% reduction next year. “We are in better shape than some food banks because about 80% of our food is privately donated,” LeBer said in a recent interview. He said the single largest source of food supply is grocery stores, followed by farms. “Our network has trucks at every major grocery store in Southwest Florida pretty much every day, picking up food that the store knows they’re not going to be able to sell and bringing it back to make available to people who are hungry,” LeBer said. “And that amounts to millions of pounds of food every year. “Our second largest source of food is farms, and we’re bringing in food from farms all year round by the truckload. Again, millions of pounds of food.” But the cuts definitely hurt, LeBer said, during a time when more and more people are facing food insecurity while the costs of housing, insurance, medical care, transportation and food are all rising. “It doesn’t help at a time when inflation is hot and heavy, and we’re seeing more people than normal,” he said. “And we think that it’s likely to increase, to have our food supply cut back somewhat. It just means we need to work that much harder.” LeBer said he is concerned about the consequences on both the demand side and on the supply side because many of the people served by the food...