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Ag secretary provides nourishing news for Pennsylvanians

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Courtesy state Department of Agriculture

State Agriculture secretary Russell Redding stresses that “no Pennsylvanian deserves to go hungry.”

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Courtesy state Department of Agriculture

Jane Clements-Smith heads the Feeding Pennsylvania program.

Russell Redding knows food and the value of nutrition, especially when a pandemic is stripping people of their livelihoods. That’s why the state secretary of Agriculture has taken a vow.

“No Pennsylvanian deserves to go hungry,” he said. “Gov.(Tom) Wolf and I promise to do everything we can to keep people from going hungry.”

Redding opened a virtual teleconference with the media Monday morning with that pronouncement, as he outlined programs designed to ensure food security statewide. He was accompanied by Jane Clements-Smith, executive director of Feeding Pennsylvania, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit.

The secretary announced that his department got an extension to operate its Disaster Household Distribution program through June 25. The program, run through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on March 27 and was to expire Sunday.

“People who need food can go to a neighborhood food bank or pantry to receive food,” Redding said. “This extension lifts a weight off the shoulders of families across the commonwealth.”

It also waives the requirement that individuals verify financial eligibility when they arrive at a food bank or pantry. In addition, the waiver allows the agriculture department and its partners to distribute USDA products, which include meats, vegetables, fruits, eggs and milk.

Asked whether the state will request another waiver beyond June 25 – if needed – Redding said, “That’s not out of the question.” Circumstances will dictate, he added.

The department estimated that its Bureau of Food Assistance will distribute more than $80 million in USDA items through the state’s charitable food system this year. That is a leap from $50 million in TEFAP funding that was allocated to buy USDA foods in 2019. The additional money this year comes mostly through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act.

A new federal program – the Farmers to Families Food Box program – also will benefit Keystone State residents. The USDA purchases produce, dairy and meat products from distributors, and the items are packed in variety boxes and transported to food banks and other nonprofits. Food banks are now scheduling distribution events for the boxes, and about a half-dozen have taken place in Southwestern Pennsylvania over the past two weeks.

One was at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, another at the Washington County Agricultural Fairgrounds on Friday. Sonny Perdue, the USDA secretary, was at the Westmoreland distribution outside Greensburg.

“One thousand families were lined up in their cars receiving boxes,” Clements-Smith said. “Nobody really wants to be there, but the gratefulness on people’s faces was incredible. People said they couldn’t believe the products they were getting.

Clements-Smith said Pennsylvania food banks are reporting a 56% increase “in the number of people coming through.”

The national distributors include 17 Pennsylvania-based contractors. Six are in the southwestern corner of the state: Farm to Table Buy Local, Pittsburgh ($281,880); Marburger Farm Dairy, Evans City ($78,636); Monteverde’s Inc., Pittsburgh ($1,440,000); Paragon Wholesale Foods, Warrendale ($3,816,000): Schneider Dairy Inc., Pittsburgh ($4,270,000); and Turner Dairy Farms Inc., Penn Hills ($315,450).

State residents interested in receiving a box should contact their local food bank for distribution information. For more information, visit agri.pa.gov.

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