Second Harvest Food Bank’s Statement on the Release of the House of Representatives’ Updated HEROES Act

“Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida strongly supports the 15 percent benefit increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) included in the updated HEROES Act introduced in the House of Representatives. This past year, Second Harvest and the rest of Feeding America’s network of 200 food banks and 60,000 partner food pantries and meal programs have served more than 5 billion meals to our neighbors in need. Yet, for every meal food banks like Second Harvest provides, SNAP provides nine. As our nation’s public health and economic crises continue with no end in sight, investing in SNAP is an efficient and cost-effective way to help families keep their pantries full while also stimulating economic activity in Central Florida and communities across the country.”

“In addition, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is grateful that the recently introduced bill invests an additional $450 million to help food banks meet the growing need for food assistance through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Since the onset of COVID-19, Second Harvest has doubled its daily distribution from 150,000 to 300,000 meals. As the capacity of food banks becomes more stretched than ever, we are pleased that the bill strengthens our ability to do what we do best: feed families. Additionally, we support the bill’s inclusion of additional vital investments in and improvements to SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), child nutrition programs, and school and child care programs to help households facing hardship.”

“Every day, Second Harvest helps families in our community access food through a network of 550 feeding partners across six counties, but we can’t meet the need alone. As consumers face the highest food prices in 50 years and as unemployment benefit claims surpass 50 million, strong investments in both federal nutrition programs and the charitable sector are essential so families do not have to choose between putting food on the table and paying their rent. More than ever, we need our lawmakers to come together and pass a bill that strengthens every tool at our disposal to significantly curb hunger in our country. The federal nutrition provisions in this proposed bill are a critical step in that direction.”