SEATTLE — Food banks across Washington state are facing a growing crisis: millions of dollars in federal food assistance have been pulled, leaving shelves emptier and families with fewer options at a time when demand has never been higher.
According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, $4.7 million worth of food that ordered through federal funding was canceled. The loss is part of a larger cut to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is trickling down through the supply chain and hitting local food banks the hardest.
“We’re already struggling, we’re already seeing diminished donations, diminished grocery rescue, all of the various ways we get food have been down but client numbers are up and now we’re going to get hit more,” Robbin Peterson, the development director at the West Seattle Food Bank, said…