Outreach Center CEO: 'More families need our food'

NORTH CREEK | Due to a substantial increase in the number of families seeking assistance, the CEO of a leading area social services agency has requested a 16.7 percent increase in financial support from the Town of Johnsburg. Julie Milner, the new executive director of the Adirondack Community Outreach Center, has asked for her agency's $12,000 annual stipend from the town to be raised to $14,000. She asked for the funding increase at the Aug. 5 Johnsburg Town Board meeting. She said the increase is needed primarily because of surging demand for food provided through the agency's various food programs. Milner said that "a lot of people" are now relying on the Outreach Center for food, which is increasing in cost, particularly eggs and beef. "Protein is super-important," she said. She noted that this summer, her agency is feeding 53 children, an increase of 33 percent over the 40 children the Outreach Center fed last summer. This Kids Summer Meals Program provides breakfast snacks, lunches, and dinners over six weeks. In last year's Backpack Program, the Outreach Center provided 60 students with about 4,200 breakfasts, 4,200 lunches, and 6,300 dinners over 35 weekends during the school year. These meals are in addition to the Center's food pantry operation, which has been providing nutritious meals for 350 people per month, Milner said. Milner added that due to the ongoing increases in the prices of food — and pending cutbacks of federal and state funding to pantries, her agency needed the increase in funding. Aug. 15, Adirondack Community Outreach Center Board President Sue Goodspeed said planned federal cuts in federal funding have left food banks and pantries "in limbo." "Our resources are threatened on a number of levels," she said, noting that the Outreach Center obtains much of its food from the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which is facing federal funding cuts, yet the Outreach Center is now experiencing a record of number of people depending on their food pantry. During the Aug. 5 meeting, Milner addressed this point. She said that pending federal cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding and tightened eligibility requirements would most likely increase the number of people relying on the Outreach Center for food. The Trump administration's Big Beautiful Bill, recently passed into law, decreases SNAP funding by $186 billion, or 20 percent, and shifts an additional portion of its cost to the states. Goodspeed said that recent food price inflation, particularly for beef, eggs and other protein sources, has reduced their availability to food banks and pantries. "Everybody's budget is so stressed with the prices now," she said, adding that the "vast majority" of those seeking assistance were "the working poor" or elderly. Milner told the town board she would soon be publishing statistics online of the "tremendous need" for food in the Johnsburg area so the community wouldn't forget about the issue. Johnsburg Town Supervisor Kevin Bean responded to Milner's plea. "We won't forget," he said on behalf of the board.

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Outreach Center CEO: 'More families need our food'

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