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Chattanooga Area Food Bank hit hard by federal funding cuts

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Volunteers Eli Noles, 16, left, and Zeda Spencer place labels on cans of cream corn at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank on Friday, April 4, 2025. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Volunteers Eli Noles, 16, left, and Zeda Spencer place labels on cans of cream corn at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank on Friday, April 4, 2025.

By Kailee Shores April 4, 2025 9 min read

The Chattanooga Area Food Bank, a nonprofit organization that works with over 250 organizations to distribute groceries to people who are food insecure across 20 counties in Tennessee and Georgia, has taken a hit as reductions in federal spending continue.

“The Chattanooga Area Food Bank received our notice about the shipments that had been canceled,” said Jeannine Carpenter, the nonprofit’s chief communications officer. “We had 13 shipments canceled. Eleven of those shipments were proteins. … They were all scheduled to arrive at our food bank between April and July.”

The shipments Carpenter referenced were part of the Commodity Credit Corporation program, a New Deal-era Department of Agriculture effort that funded food products from local producers and then distributed those products to food banks across the nation. The program was expanded last year by then-President Joe Biden.

Chattanooga Area Food Bank hit hard by federal funding cuts

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Volunteers Avery Freeman, left, and Savannah Boyle pack food into boxes for distribution at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank on Friday, April 4, 2025. — Staff photo by Matt Hamilton/ Volunteers Eli Noles, 16, left, and Zeda Spencer place labels on cans of cream corn at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank on Friday, April 4, 2025.

In March, the Agriculture Department rolled back the expansion under President Donald Trump, whose second administration has made reduction of government programs a priority, after a campaign in which he promised to cut bureaucracy. The Agriculture Department put out a statement explaining the cuts.

“These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency,” the statement said.