Editor’s note: Este artículo está traducido al españo

Three Square food bank is already feeling the effects of President Donald Trump’s cuts to federal programs, having received 1.5 million fewer pounds of food this year compared with the same period a year ago, the organization said.

That equals about 1.25 million meals, it said.

The group distributed over 40 million pounds of food in 2023, but reaching that benchmark will be harder; 5 million pounds received last year isn’t guaranteed this time. “The pattern of uncertainty continues,” said Beth Martino, Three Square’s president. “We really have to continue planning for lots of different possible contingencies. Everything from mild to moderate reductions in funding or food supply to very serious and deep cuts” over the next few months.

The food decline coincides with a period of rising demand for the food bank’s services, creating a critical challenge for the community. Three Square is Southern Nevada’s lone food bank.

Amid these challenges, newly promoted leadership team members are stepping in to navigate what has already been a difficult year. Elizabeth Hunterton is now chief development officer after starting in an interim role since December. and Lisa Segler is the newly appointed chief operations and strategy officer. Three Square announced the leadership changes April 15.

“Any time there’s a loss in funding, if you take that value of that dollar amount and you multiply it by three, that’s really the impact that we feel because one dollar equals three meals,” said Hunterton, who oversees government grants and marketing.

The United States Department of Agriculture canceled a $4 million grant earlier this year that would have supplied locally grown food for Three Square and its upstate counterpart, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, through Home Feeds Nevada.

At the same time, USDA cut $500 million nationwide for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which also provides food to organizations like Three Square.

Three Square officials are monitoring how congressional Republicans meet the framework for trillions of dollars for tax cuts and government spending cuts approved earlier this month in their budget framework.

On the table, according to a list published by The New York Times, is rolling back expansion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits approved under President Joe Biden and capping federal support of Medicaid.

While neither SNAP nor Medicaid have traditionally funded food banks directly, cutting into those services would further strain people’s wallets and potentially force them into needing Three Square’s resources.

In Nevada, families spend 10.1% of their household income on groceries, the second-highest in the nation, according to personal loan company LendingTree.

Martino said people wrongly assume that the spike in food insecurity created by the pandemic has gradually improved. Food insecurity, as tracked by USDA to 13.5% of U.S. households, which rose from 10.5% in 2020.

Martino said Las Vegas residents were “missing more meals than they were missing before” COVID-19.

One of the biggest reasons for that increase, she said, is inflation. Inflation and potential tariff-induced price shocks also reduce the impact of financial donations, reducing how much food Three Square can purchase.

The face of hunger is changing, Hunterton said. She’s heard stories of people with six-figure salaries struggling to make ends meet for their families, and Three Square has seen the same “between high rent costs and the cost of groceries,” Hunterton said.

“Our partners are reporting an increase in need, and we can see that on our end too that there’s been a steady increase over time,” Segler said. “And so we just stand ready for an even bigger increase might that happen.”

Along with the uncertainty has come increased community support, something the organization hopes to build on throughout the year.

Three Square kicked off its two-month Bag Childhood Hunger campaign, where donations are matched by a group of Nevada companies, at the start of April. So far, there’s been “a bit of an increase over where we were last year,” Hunterton said.

She added that when the organization starts releasing data showing what federal cuts mean for families in the valley, she believes donors will make efforts to assist.

Martino has also seen some increased interest from volunteers. One told her last week that she picked up some extra shifts after hearing about the cuts Three Square is managing.

“One thing about the Las Vegas and Southern Nevada community is when there’s a need, they always step up,” Hunterton said, “and I don’t think this is going to be the exception.”

Help also couldcome from the state.

Senate Bill 233, proposed in February by Las Vegas Democratic state Sens. Fabian Doñate and Edgar Flores, would put $800,000 in state funding toward food purchases and would require the Governor’s Council on Food Security to study Home Feeds Nevada viability.

“My bill has now become the only lifeline that many of these farmers depend on,” Doñate told the Sun last month. “If Senate Bill 233 does not pass now, with the funding cuts the president has done nationally, this program will cease to exist.”

Doñate said the Trump administration “has not done their homework” on the programs they’ve cut, removing resources people rely on.

“This has been a longstanding problem that we’ve seen with the Trump administration,” he said. “This is just one example of how disastrous it could be at the federal level, and now we have to step up at the state level to protect it.”

[email protected] / 702-990-8923 / @Kyle_Chouinard