Setting the Table
Vermont Strong and the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation Work to Build Food Security in a Challenging Year
No one should wake up hungry. But flooding this year made it harder for many Vermonters to pay for the basics, including food. Even into the fall, six weeks after this year’s disastrous flooding, some of the people who lined up at the Hardwick Area Food Pantry couldn’t cook in their own kitchens because they were still flooded out.
Unexpected costs for repairs, temporary housing, and replacement of sodden household goods created financial stress across income levels.
Particularly for very low-income people, the flooding squeezed budgets and increased food insecurity. “People who are really impoverished don’t bounce back in the same way. They just don’t have the funds,’’ said Stella James, site coordinator for the Hardwick branch of the nonprofit, which also operates pantries in Albany and Craftsbury.
"People who are really impoverished don't bounce back in the same way."
Donations through the Vermont Strong license plate campaign are putting food on the table in this challenging year.
Approximately half of the campaign’s funds are going to the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund 2023 at the Vermont Community Foundation, which in turn has granted funds to organizations in affected communities across the state.
Meeting the need for healthy food is among the fund’s priorities. For nonprofits such as the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, the grant assistance has been a big help.
The Caledonia County organization provides nutritious food at no cost to people in need, and distributes another kind of sustenance, too.
“People come into a public space that’s welcoming and they feel less alone,” James said. Food assistance through the pantry helps people stretch their budgets so there’s “less of a feeling of scarcity overall,” James added. “It decreases anxiety for folks who feel like they wouldn’t otherwise have anywhere to turn.”
Catastrophic flooding across Vermont had an immediate impact on people’s ability to access food, and came at a time when many people in Vermont were already struggling to afford the food they need and want, added John Sayles, CEO of the Vermont Foodbank, which has received grants from Vermont Strong via the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund.
“We know from past disasters that there is a long tail to recovery. Thanks to community support, Vermont Foodbank responded, in partnership with neighbors across the state, to connect people with food in the immediate aftermath of floods, as well as provide funding and resources to food access partners for their recovery," Sayles said. "Today, along with its more than 225 partner food shelves, meal sites, schools and hospitals, our network continues the work of connecting neighbors with nourishing food as recovery continues.”
Continued donations to Vermont Strong can help put more food on the table. With the arrival of winter, the Hardwick Pantry has seen an increase in people seeking food assistance. The cost of winterizing cars, the loss of summer seasonal work, and other factors may be at play, including the continuing impact of this summer’s weather disaster.
“I think things are just harder for people overall and maybe that does have to do with the flood,” James said. The bottom line: “We’re here to help with food.”
Learn more at vtfloodresponse.org
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