[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're joined once again by Jeannie Fournier, who is the chief impact officer with our partners at the Community Food Bank in New Jersey.

Jeannie, good to see you.

- Good to see you too, Steve.

- Jeannie, talk to us and we'll put up the website for the Community Food Bank in New Jersey.

Where are we in New Jersey as it relates to food insecurity?

- Currently, 1.2 million New Jersey residents are food insecure, of which 330,000 are children.

So this is up about 63% since 2019.

- How much of that increase or those increases has to do with SNAP benefits being cut, formerly known as food stamps?

- We know that providing food to neighbors is core to reducing food insecurity, but also wraparound services such as SNAP are so important to that.

Since the July 2025 reconciliation law, we have seen a decline in SNAP participation.

So just since April of 2026 in New Jersey, more than 35,000 people have dropped off of SNAP, of which 21,000 are children.

So very big impact.

- I'm curious about this.

That's the federal government making those decisions.

To what degree can the state or is the state trying to make up for that?

- So one of the impacts is that the state and all states are being asked to cover a portion of the administrative costs for the program- - I'm sorry for interrupting.

That's part of HR1, which is the big, beautiful bill- - Yes, yes.

So one of the impacts is that states now have to cover a portion of the administrative costs for the program.

So deep impacts at the state level for sure.

- Jeannie, what is food sourcing?

- So food sourcing.

So food banks get their food from a variety of places, and that includes the federal government, it includes donations, and then more recently an increase in the amount of food that we are purchasing to make up the difference in reduced federal food and reduced donations.

- To what degree, when you are sourcing food, does that food try to connect to different communities, ethnic and/or racial communities and what people in certain communities tend to want?

- It's a great question, so- - Based on cultural differences.

- Yeah.

We are the melting pot, right?

So we know that there are a lot of different either dietary preferences and/or, you know, cultural preferences that folks have- - And restrictions... And restrictions.

- Correct.

Yes, absolutely.

So one of the things that we work to do is to source a variety of products.

And because we do have great purchasing power and we are a large organization, we can really put out information on what type of food and foods our network is looking for to meet the needs of their communities.

- Refrigerated locker pickup program, what the heck is that?

- So that is the ability to order food online that meets the needs of your family that you are able to pick up at a time that works for you.

So if you're a working household and a pantry may only be open during the day, you have the ability to go after work or in evening hours or even very early morning hours to pick up food.

- Remind folks of this because you're a nonprofit.

We're a nonprofit.

We've been partners for several years.

We spend most of... Not most of, a lot of our time raising money.

Resources, to what degree do you believe the community food bank has the resources, the capability to meet the demand?

- We are a very large organization that has great purchasing power and a very large voice, right?

We are the lead anti-hunger, anti-poverty organization in New Jersey.

90 million meals distributed annually.

We are seeing a decline in food received from the federal government.

So in 2024, it was about 22% of what we received.

This past year it was 14% of what we received.

Donations, you know, we can work to source donations as much as possible, create great relationships.

You know, New Jersey residents donating to us, but we've also seen donations go down.

And so what we've had to do is to try to make up the difference in purchasing and we are experiencing the same challenges as everybody else.

I can tell you this year, turkeys cost us 63% more than last year.

Chicken roasters- - Sorry for interrupting, Jeannie.

Tell us what that's going to mean around the holidays.

- What it means is we're going to be able to provide about 50% fewer turkeys than we did last year.

Chicken roasters, we are providing more chicken roasters, but the cost of that went up 44% since last year as well.

So we are trying to make some shifts and, you know, working with our network and finding out what their neighbors would be looking for is something that we try to make sure we do.

But yes, we have financial constraints.

- So the website's up one more time.

If people want to be helpful, if people want to not just understand the problem, care about the problem, but rather do something about food insecurity and our friends and neighbors, many of whom are suffering right now and have a hard time putting food on the table, what can they do right now?

- So we ask for four things.

One, funds.

For every dollar donated to CFBNJ, it equals three meals.

And as a reminder, we did 90 million meals last year, but we have that with the rising need.

Give your time.

We largely rely on volunteers coming to our warehouses and helping us to sort all of the incredible donations that we receive.

Giving food, right?

So whether you're doing a personal food drive or you're working with, you know, your local... You work or your local community, really giving food to us.

And the last is really giving your voice and really raising up the issue of food insecurity as something that is affecting so many New Jersey residents and really trying to make sure that people are aware of this issue, not just around the holidays, but all year long.

- Hey Jeannie, to you and your colleagues at the Community Food Bank in New Jersey, we appreciate and recognize everything you do every day and we're proud to be your partners.

Thank you, Jeannie.

- Thank you so much.

- You got, I'm Steve Adubato.

We thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

The Burke Foundation EJI, Excellence in Medicine.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group.

PSEG Foundation.

Valley Bank.

United Airlines.

And by Stockton University.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

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