Brevard groups dedicated to ensuring the county’s most vulnerable residents have food are witnessing a surge in need — just as they are starting to feel the harsh effects of federal government budget cuts.
Twenty-eight tractor trailer trucks traveling with food to local Florida communities have been halted, without notice.
“The hits keep coming. This is a major blow,” said David Brubaker, president/CEO of The Sharing Center of Central Brevard after he was told that the federal program that provides emergency food assistance has been cut through the rest of the year, leading to the trucks deliveries being stopped.
‘We are very concerned about how all these cuts will affect our programs and our ability to meet the need in the coming months and years,” Brubaker said.
In a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, schools and food banks are set to lose approximately $1.1 billion in funding from two programs that supply food banks with grant money and food from local farmers and producers.
Then this week, in an email sent by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to Brubaker and other recipient members, it noted that The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) “product allotment has been cancelled for the remainder of the year by the current Federal administration. This reduces the amount of TEFAP food that we can allocate to you to feed your community by half.”
TEFAP is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of people with low-income by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. This will impact nonprofit organizations and churches that rely on these funds and food donations will be affected in Brevard County.
Derrick Chubbs, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida said, “We have over 800 agencies we work with, 75 in Brevard … We provide over 800,000 pounds of food to Brevard County, that equates to 17-20 trailer truckloads a month.”
Chubbs notes that these cuts come as Florida is currently experiencing high population growth and the cost of food is rising.
In President Trump’s last administration, as a COVID-19 response, and continuing through Biden’s term, funds were pushed at the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture. But now that’s ending, but groups that distribute that food say the need is as great as ever.
“Our numbers of people needing food are going up and they have been at pandemic levels for the last two years. We see nothing that indicates those numbers are going to do anything but increase,” said Chubbs.
Federal cuts to food pantry supplies will hit Brevard
The TEFAP funds provide food to individuals and families beyond what Sharing Center of Central Brevard can distribute on their own. For example, the center was able to provide food for families every 30 days, using this food and funds. Now that may be limited to every 60 days.
All this comes as nonprofits like the Sharing Center of Central Brevard are trying to serve more people. They historically feed approximately 100 people in the community with monthly food allotments. But now they see more than 300 individuals and families lining up in the same time frame, Brubaker said.
And concern is growing about what else might be cut as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk looks for ways to trim back federal spending, as well as fraud and waste. A proposed 50-page list of spending and tax proposals are being considered.
Historically, the Sharing Center of Central Brevard receives funding through the Brevard County Housing and Human Services, as well as the City of Cocoa through Community Development Block Grants. These annual grants are awarded to states and cities to develop viable urban communities, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Our Community Kitchen and emergency food programs have both received funding in years past … As you can imagine those funds help us offset the increase in food cost over the past four years,” said Brubaker.
Over the years, grant funds have been used to purchase food for hunger relief programs, which provide a hot meal from Monday to Saturday and a bag lunch on Sundays. Additionally, these funds help sponsor children through a weekend food program.
“On average, we distribute 50,000 pounds of food each month. However, we’ve distributed over 100,000 pounds a month from October 2024 – February 2025. That’s a huge indicator that individuals and families are struggling,” said Brubaker.
“We are going to receive less food and now less funding and we are busier than ever.”
Who else is affected by government cuts?
Adding to the concerns at the Sharing Center of Central Brevard are other changes on the horizon among groups that work with some of Brevard’s most vulnerable.
Daily Bread Inc. announced the closure of their Fee Ave. location, with a new site not being completed until 2027. This location was greater Melbourne’s respite from the streets for the unhoused population and offered daily meals and comprehensive services.
The plan for the Daily Bread is to continue operation with mobile offices, providing housing-focused case management such as essential supplies, food and clothes, as well as continue their warehouse distribution center on Morningside Drive, playing a critical role in feeding the community.
Executive director Jeffrey Njus said in a statement, “Our distribution team supports 250 community meals per month and supplies food to 31 partner agencies and food banks.”
Njus also stated Daily Bread would have a home base at the South Brevard Sharing Center and would support their food pantry.
Matthew’s Hope Ministries, a nonprofit serving Brevard’s homeless, will not be affected by federal cuts; however, they see an increasing problem in hunger and homelessness as a result of other organizations not able to meet needs.
“My concern is in the next week or two that we are going to see even more people coming to us.” said founder and CEO, Scott Billue.
“We are seeing homeless people come into Matthews from further away because they’re not getting the help they need other places — based on anticipated cuts.”
Billue further told FLORIDA TODAY that in addition to increasing numbers of un-homed individuals and families, they are now seeing hungry yet homed show up at the center, hoping for food for the day. The organization does not have the budget to provide for those needs, he said.
“Our greatest concern is how much staying power do we have while these other organizations are either shuttering or pulling back on services — that they can’t give because they don’t have the resources,” said Billue.
“Now we have more people that are not being fed and children that are going hungry. Forty percent of the first time new homeless we are seeing right now is our baby boomers and people under the age of 18. These are not people that have failed in some way.”
“It’s something like I’ve never seen before. Those are the same people that are losing their homes and now [the government] is saying that you’re also not going to get food,” said Billue.
Potential impact to children in schools
While it is still unclear what, if anything, these cuts will mean to local public, charter and private schools in Brevard County, many are on high alert nationwide and locally.
“I’m not aware of any cuts to the USDA school lunch programs, which is where we get our funding for food and nutrition services,” said Katye Campbell, Brevard Public Schools school board member.
But Shannon Gleave, president of the nonprofit School Nutrition Association, expressed concern: “These proposals would cause millions of children to lose access to free school meals at a time when working families are struggling with rising food costs.”
In Brevard, Brubaker said they sponsor 145 families a week during the school year.
“Though almost every student we serve receives free or reduced breakfast at school Monday through Friday and without our program there would be a nutrition gap Friday through Monday — setting students back,” said Brubaker.
Cherryl Cominsky, executive director of the Children’s Hunger Project, said while they do not rely on federal government funding, they would need more help from the community if they have higher requests for weekend food packages. They currently provide food to over 4,700 children in Brevard County weekly.
Amber Olesen is FLORIDA TODAY’s food and dining reporter. Reach her at aolesen@floridatoday.com.
