At a time when more people are facing hunger, a major food bank in Birmingham says it lost out on about 2.6 million meals as a result of cuts by the federal government.

The federal government in March slashed nearly $1 billion of funding for food banks nationwide, and ended a program that sourced fresh food directly from local farmers.

“At some point we’re going to run out of money for the year,” said Nicole Williams, the CEO of the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama. “It’s devastating every day to know there are children going to bed hungry.”

Williams said some shelves at her warehouse sat empty when the United States Department of Agriculture temporarily stopped sending her organization food after the cuts. And without partnerships with local farmers, she is still struggling to keep up with the demand for produce.

To make up for the losses, she’s already spent over a third of her annual budget so people across the 12 counties she serves – stretching from Winston in the northwest to Clay in the east – can still get meals.

And more cuts could be on the way.

Alabama food banks are ringing the alarm bells about what additional federal spending cuts could mean for people already at risk of going hungry in the state and the economy.

Since 2019, Alabama food banks have gone from distributing 61 million pounds of food to 90 million pounds in 2024, according to Feeding Alabama, and the group said “demand for help continues to grow.”

“We all know that demand went up during COVID but the problem is it never went back down,” said Laura Lester, CEO of Feeding Alabama, which operates a network of food banks throughout the state. “For different reasons, people are continuing to struggle with the hardships of the economy and we know things are probably going to get worse.”

Congress is now considering a tax bill that would cut $230 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food benefits to families with low incomes. That bill passed the House Wednesday night.

“Every time there is even the smallest change to SNAP, we see a massive increase in demand at our pantries,” Lester said.

For every meal provided by an Alabama food bank, SNAP provides nine, according to Feeding Alabama.

“If $230 billion are cut from the SNAP program, there is no back up plan,” said Lester. “The pantries that are already bending under the strain have no capacity left to meet such a massive increase in need.”

According to Feeding Alabama, if Congress decreases their share of SNAP funding in Alabama by just 10%, the state would need to spend nearly $200 million to make up the difference.

Williams and Lester both say the ramifications of the cuts extend far beyond the 740,000 Alabamians enrolled in SNAP and the over 800,000 people who experience food insecurity.

Alabama was one of 40 states to participate in the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which allowed local farmers to sell dairy, meat and produce to food banks and schools.

Amy Belcher, communications director for the Alabama Department of Agriculture, told the Montgomery Advertiser that with the program being cut, about 80 farmers lost $16 million in USDA funding.

When COVID brought long lines of people into food banks, the federal government stepped up and provided organizations with more food and more money to meet the need.

Williams’ food purchasing budget grew to $6 million, whereas now it’s a quarter of that amount.

She still gets most of her food – about 53% – by reclaiming food from grocery stores and Dollar Generals. USDA commodities account for 28% of her food while community donations only made up 1% of the nearly 25 million pounds the Central Alabama food bank distributed last year.

But she doesn’t have the resources to make up for any further cuts. And amid all of the uncertainty, she knows one thing is true.

“We’re going to feed less people this year,” she said.