This story is in collaboration with the Institute for Public Service Reporting.
Every month, volunteers at Catholic Charities of West Tennessee help load about 2,000 meal boxes of food into the cars of Mid-South families. Each box weighs 20 pounds.
“We're doing the best we can to be here every day,” says Kiki Hall, senior director of community engagement. "Some folks use their last $3 to put gas in their tank to come and get food.”
But this and other nonprofit organizations are facing new challenges since the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, slashed over $1 billion in federal funding for programs that help fight food insecurity earlier this year. Catholic Charities' senior director of development and marketing Mike Goughnour says the cuts have led to an uptick in community need.
“Since February, with some of the cuts in food banks and mobile food pantries across town, we've seen about 40 percent of the folks that are showing up here are brand new to us,” Goughnour said.
He says many who need the extra food are living paycheck to paycheck.
“A lot of the times, it's just people that have had one or two missteps or mishaps in their life and that just sets them back," he says.
Ashleigh Franklin was among those in the food line recently.
“I usually don't come, but we going through a situation right now," Franklin said. "So, I’ve seen the line and I just decided I'd come get in the line.”
Franklin has a job. Still, she and her 19-year-old daughter are living in a car.
"And I've been homeless since December the 17th of last year. So, the only difference between me and the young people that's out here walking is that God blessed me to be able to be in my car going through my struggle."
But Mark Schielke, senior director of emergency services for Catholic Charities, says the ability to acquire food supplies has changed since Trump took office.
“So if we rewind, go back to, you know, maybe four or five months ago, 85 percent of what we got was USDA product," Schielke said. “Now, in the past couple of months, that equation has flipped. It's probably 15 percent of the product is USDA product. So, I'm having to buy stuff as opposed to getting the USDA product.”
Schielke says the group typically distributes about 15,000 lbs. of non-perishable food per week.
CBS reported that recent funding cuts canceled two pandemic-era programs that helped offset those costs. The 2026 USDA budget, now awaiting Senate approval, is $7 billion dollars less than the current year’s. The proposal includes cuts to food stamps (or SNAP) benefits and child nutrition programs.
IPSR reached out to US Sen. Marsha Blackburn about the budget. We have not received a response.
The shrinking funding could have a direct impact on cities like Memphis. The poverty rate here is nearly double the national average. One in every three children live in poverty.
Mark Schielke says the nonprofit is already bracing for more potential cuts.
"One of the things that we may have to do — right now it's about 20 pounds of product in that box — we got to cut back. We'll put less in there. Maybe we'll put 17 pounds in there," Schielke said.
He says the organization will likely become more reliant on corporate grants and community donations, which could affect other needy charities in the area.
“Give your time and give your money, if you can. That's what we really need.” he said.
In the meantime, Schielke says both charities and the people they feed will just have to get through leaner times together.
