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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer has joined five Kentucky food banks in urging Congress to restore funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program in the federal budget for fiscal year 2007.
President Bush’s 2007 budget includes no funding for the program, which supplies food for some 500,000 low-income people in 32 states, including 15,161 in Kentucky.
“This program provides a vital service to some of Kentucky’s most vulnerable citizens,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Without this program, thousands of Kentuckians will be hard-pressed to get the nutrition they need for their health and well-being.”
Under the CSFP, people enrolled in the program receive a box of food commodities once a month to supplement their diets. The food in each box is valued at about $40. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food Distribution administers the federal program in Kentucky.
The proposed budget cut comes at a time when Kentucky food banks are reporting an increase in demand for the commodities. The food banks don’t have the funds to make up for the loss of the program, Commissioner Farmer said.
“Food stamps won’t work for many CSFP clients,” he said. “Some would qualify for as little as $10 of food stamps a month, which they might not consider worth their while. Others are shut-ins, and others simply won’t apply for food stamps as a matter of principle. These folks will suffer if this funding is not restored.”
Elimination of the program also would create a hardship for eligible senior citizens who participate in the KDA’s senior farmers’ market nutrition program. Of the 49 locations where the program is administered, 29 are located at sites where participants pick up their CSFP commodities. If the CSFP program is eliminated, they will have to go somewhere else in order to receive fresh fruits and vegetables through this program.
“Most of the people served by CSFP are elderly people who worked hard for many years, contributing to the strength of their communities, this Commonwealth and this nation,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Others are children who need nutritious foods from the CSFP to grow up healthy and happy.”
From October 2004 to September 2005, CSFP distributed more than 6 million pounds of food valued at nearly $4.1 million through food banks in Edgewood, Elizabethtown, Lexington, Mayfield and Louisville, including KDA’s state-operated facility.
“America is great because Americans are good,” Commissioner Farmer said. “One of our core values is to look out for people who are less fortunate. The CSFP program is one way we can all live up to those values. I strongly support this program, and I call on Congress to do the same.”
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