Two nonprofit food pantries in New Haven are partnering to keep serving the community amid federal funding cuts.
Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, known as IRIS, operates a 5,000-square-foot warehouse and food pantry on Hamilton Street. The site feeds more than 650 families.
However, earlier this year, the Trump administration cut $4 million, which the federal government used to contribute to their annual budget of $15 million.
Now, the privately funded, community-service run Community Soup Kitchen will pay IRIS’s $4,000-a-month rent, and the two companies will share the space.
Gregory DePetris, CSK’s board chair, said the partnership would be mutually beneficial.
“Food insecurity in our city is rising. Public funding to support emergency food providers is increasingly unpredictable. And that's exactly why the partnership with IRIS matters so deeply,” DePetris said. “It's a practical and powerful response to a growing need.”
“Because federal funding is cut, it does not stop our care for the people that we serve, and this partnership is a demonstration of that commitment,” IRIS Executive Director Maggie Mitchell Salem said. “When we have to reduce operating costs, we look around for partnerships that allow us to continue serving.”
State and local officials, including Mayor Justin Elicker (D) and Governor Ned Lamont (D) visited the site on Wednesday, as community members picked up their food.
“I just think that Community Soup Kitchen and IRIS are exactly what makes America great,” Lamont said. “And sometimes Washington forgets that, as they are right now.”
Lamont listened as IRIS food pantry manager Johanna Snyder went down the list of how much surrounding states contribute to combating food insecurity: $30 million in Massachusetts, $35 million in New York and $85 million in New Jersey.
Connecticut spent $850,000 last year.
Snyder wants state lawmakers to pass H.B. 7021, which would allocate $10 million to DSS for Connecticut Foodshare. The organization buys and distributes food to the state’s pantries.
“We're going to do what we can within the context of an honestly balanced budget,” Lamont told reporters after the event.
