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El Paso food bank reduces hours of operation amid unstable funding [1]
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Date: 2025-03-17
El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank will reduce food distribution from five days a week to four days, operating Tuesday to Friday, the organization announced Monday. The food bank also plans to adjust distributions with pantry partners depending on available resources.
The new weekly schedule of operations is set to start the week of March 31. In addition, 20% of agency partners and 20% of mobile pantries will no longer receive food, said Susan Goodell, CEO of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger, at a news conference Monday.
Aside from the main food distribution site in the Lower Valley, mobile pantries can serve families more conveniently in their neighborhood, such as at schools and churches. Some of the schools that will no longer have mobile pantries include Bel Air Middle, Stanton Elementary, Travis Elementary and IDEA Mesa Hills, according to a list obtained by El Paso Matters.
Fundraising since the COVID-19 pandemic has dropped, making it challenging to meet a growing need, according to the announcement released ahead of the organization’s news conference. The food bank faces added financial instability from the Trump administration, which continues to slash funding for food assistance programs.
“We have seen relatively stable funding from government sources for many, many years,” Goodell said. “What we’ve experienced over the last couple months is unprecedented.”
The Trump administration earlier this year froze federal grants before quickly rescinding the freeze, which nonprofit leaders said highlighted the caution surrounding projects that rely on grants for sustainability.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently cut more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farms and ranchers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is also temporarily withholding payments to organizations that assist migrants, though Goodell said the food bank has not used federal funds to feed migrants.
“The reality is, with fewer resources, we must make tough decisions to protect core operations even as we navigate this funding crisis,” Goodell said in a news release. “With a limited local food supply, we must be laser-focused on bringing the most nutritious food into El Paso for our most vulnerable neighbors.”
Families receive eggs and other foods from the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, 9541 Plaza Circle, on March 17, 2025. The food bank is having to cut back its hours and services as donations and funding continue dropping. (Luis Torres / El Paso Matters)
About 36% of the food bank’s operating expenses depends on government funding, which has seen a steep decline, Goodell said. The rest – private sources of funding from corporations, foundations and individual donors – has also seen a decline.
“I think part of that is because everyone is struggling right now, regardless if you’re a nonprofit or for-profit,” Goodell said. “These are incredibly uncertain times, and when times are this uncertain, people tend to pause and see if they can support themselves and their own families before they know whether they’re in a position to help others.”
Tomatoes and an assortment of fruits and vegetables at the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, 9541 Plaza Circle, are prepared to go to help families in need, March 17, 2025. (Luis Torres / El Paso Matters)
El Paso is a desert community with little local food production, so the food bank relies on food donations from around the country, such as food that companies might otherwise throw away, Goodell said. This means the food bank needs resources to go and rescue that food, sometimes at great distances.
The decline in funding impacts both the amount of food the organization can distribute to each household and the nutritional variety.
El Pasoans Fighting Hunger is paying close attention to the proposed tariffs on Mexico, which could affect the food bank’s access to fresh produce traveling through the port of Nogales, Goodell told El Paso Matters.
El Pasoans Fighting Hunger served an estimated 88.5 million meals to low-income families across its main distribution site, partner agencies and mobile food pantries, according to the 2023 report.
One of the mobile pantry sites the food bank will axe, Our Lady Mount Carmel Church in the Lower Valley, provides groceries to about 500 households.
Other programs include food delivery for people ages 60 and up, disabled or homebound. The food bank also employs staff to help people sign up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
In January of this year, more than 69,000 households in El Paso County were enrolled in SNAP, and nearly 148,000 individuals were eligible for benefits – numbers up from January of last year, according to Texas Health and Human Services data.
See Also Growing SNAP applications backlog leaves El Paso families waiting on food stamps Texas is still struggling to keep up with the SNAP benefits backlog as the number of delayed applications grows. In El Paso, the food bank is helping families expedite their cases.
SNAP benefits could take a potential hit, however, under Republican leadership. House Republicans recently passed a budget resolution that would cut $230 billion from the committee that oversees SNAP benefits over the next decade.
El Pasoans wishing to give money or time to the food bank can donate or sign up for volunteer slots online.
“People who struggle need to have that safety net,” Goodell said. “They need to be able to depend on food banks and other organizations that provide for basic human needs, things like food and shelter and just the basics. I hope that as leaders look at the impact of recent actions, will look at this and perhaps reconsider.”
Editor’s Note: 4 p.m. March 17: This story has been updated throughout with information following a news conference.
Disclosure: El Paso Matters CEO Robert Moore is a board member for El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank. The newsroom’s policy on editorial independence can be found here.
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