The largest nonprofit provider of food assistance in Vermont has laid off nearly 10% of its staff.
The Vermont Foodbank laid off seven staff members about two weeks ago and eliminated two vacant positions, according to the organization’s president, John Sayles. He said the downsizing comes in response to structural budget issues that the food bank had to rectify as it prepares for its next fiscal year.
“We really needed to make sure that the organization was going to be strong and stable and sustainable into the future, and we weren’t seeing that trajectory,” Sayles said Monday.
Sayles said he would have preferred to achieve the cost savings through employee attrition, but that “it didn’t appear that we were going to be able to do this through attrition in enough time.”
We’re seeing cuts in both dollars and food from the government, and no real path to getting that back.John Sayles, Vermont Foodbank
He said the layoffs were in departments across the organization, including the “community impact team” that works with other nonprofit food providers.
Food banks across the nation are under financial strain as government funding retrenches from its pandemic highs. Between 2019 and 2023, staffing numbers at the Vermont Foodbank jumped from 60 to 88, largely due to increased state and federal funding intended to address COVID-era spikes in food insecurity.
“We saw a huge surge of additional financial support both from the state of Vermont and the federal government during the COVID pandemic,” Sayles said. “And now we’re seeing cuts in both dollars and food from the government, and no real path to getting that back.”
Sayles said the layoffs will help the organization reduce overhead without affecting the availability of food to low-income Vermonters.
“We’re focusing on making sure we’re not impacting the amount of food or the places that food’s available in the communities,” he said.
