Food shelves in Vermont are gearing up for the winter amid increased need and uncertainties about food assistance.
Vermont Foodbank is seeing more people than usual at its own food distribution events, and hearing from organizations across the state that they’re seeing more people in need of food.
“We are also hearing that even people who come regularly are asking to take more food,” said Carrie Stahler, senior manager of government and public affairs at Vermont Foodbank. “And so that is usually for us a sign of people feeling insecure and unsteady.”
Here is a look at how some local food shelves are responding to the need.
Rutland
In response to cuts to SNAP benefits, the BROC Community Action Group recently doubled their Rutland food shelf hours.
This is not a temporary change.
“We really feel that this need in our communities, unfortunately, is here to stay,” said Tom Donahue, CEO of BROC.
Donahue said it’s been crowded at the food shelf for months.
“It's literally standing room only. We’re seeing 100 people a day here in Rutland,” he said.
He said the community action agency is also concerned about the possibility that 3SquaresVT benefits may not be issued in November.
“Folks are gonna need to find a way to close that gap in their food budget,” he said.
He said the organization is happy to see people come to BROC to fill that gap, but that it would be a big task.
Williston
The Williston Community Food Shelf has also seen an uptick in clients.
“Our numbers have risen dramatically in the last year,” said Ginger Morton, president of the food shelf.
She cited high costs of living, low SNAP benefits and skyrocketing grocery prices as factors in this increase.
As a volunteer organization with no guaranteed source of funding, the food shelf has stepped up appeals to the community.
At this point, they have not limited how much food people can take. Clients from Williston, Richmond and St. George can shop three times a month. People from other towns can come in for an emergency bag of food twice a month.
“It’s always worse in the winter because the vast majority of people that come to food shelves come because they can’t afford to pay for everything that they need to be able to keep themselves alive,” Morton said.
Many of the food shelf’s clients are employed, and around 17% are senior citizens receiving Social Security benefits.
Sheldon
The Sheldon Interfaith Food Shelf has experienced an increase in demand over the past year, and volunteers expect that demand to grow even more over the next month.
“I expect for 2025, we will see somewhere between a 10% and 15% increase, compared to 2024,” said Grant John Gorton, coordinator of the food shelf.
The holiday period, particularly the month of November, has historically been the busiest time of year at the Sheldon food shelf. If this year’s upward trend in clients continues, Gorton is confident that November 2025 will be their busiest month ever.
The food shelf, which started operating in the 1990s, has no residency restriction and no restriction on how frequently people return.
“We will not deviate from that as long as we possibly can,” Gorton said. “We may get to the point where we just can’t get enough food to be able to do that.”
First, he’d have to limit how many times people can come back. He said he hopes he never has to place geographic limits, because people have been coming from all over Franklin County (and sometimes further) for years.
