New Hampshire communities are seeing firsthand how federal funding cuts will have devastating, life-altering effects on our low-income residents. Many of our neighbors depend upon social service programs that ensure they can access healthcare and food. And it’s a double whammy for seniors, struggling families, and many working people who are financially squeezed by high costs associated with inflation and tariffs on top of the steep cuts on social services currently in the soon to be voted upon state budget.
At Gather, the state’s largest anti-hunger nonprofit serving southern New Hampshire, we meet hunger needs by providing access to free, nutritious food and programs that build food security and belonging. We serve over 10,500 people each month. Last year, demand for food increased 25% over 2023 and we are already seeing hundreds more people signing up to use our Portsmouth food pantry. We all know when people consistently eat healthy, well-balanced meals, their bodies and minds are nourished and they are better able to work, learn, care for one another, and thrive. Our team at Gather sees firsthand how good food is essential to an individual’s stability. We also see how anyone can unexpectedly and suddenly find themselves in difficult financial straits; forced to choose between food and medication, or food and rent. Seniors on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable.
Gather Executive Director Anne Hayes.
In 2024, New Hampshire Hunger Solutions reported that nearly half of the state’s school-aged children qualify as “food insufficient”, meaning that families reported not having enough of the right food (fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins) within the last seven days. This was before the current threat of federal funding cuts to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant program to small farmers that allowed schools and food banks to buy fresh products. At the same time, New Hampshire lawmakers and the governor are considering major state-level cuts to social services programs.
Seacoast food pantries: ‘We need community to step up’ amid federal cuts
In this moment, there has never been a greater need for local support networks. Gather and our partners are stepping up to this challenge, but we cannot do it alone. The Seacoast Food Providers Network of independent and faith-based food pantries across the region plays an indispensable role in ensuring no one in our many southern New Hampshire and Maine communities goes hungry. These organizations, powered by volunteers and generous donors, will be called upon to fill the need.
Gather is responding to these realities with our Mobile Markets and Fresh Food Bus, which each week provide a variety of fresh, nutritious food at 15 sites across eight towns. This fall, we will be moving into a much larger and centralized building at 124 Heritage Ave. in Portsmouth to address our unprecedented growth. Our warehouse space that stores food donations and our pantry market where this food is distributed will double in size. An on-site commercial production kitchen will substantially increase the number of prepared, nutritious meals that we can make. We’ll be able to distribute more food, more efficiently, to more people.
We’ll also offer programming that supports healthy eating, cooking skills, and vegetable gardening. In addition, we will host a culinary workforce training program, made possible by a teaching kitchen and outdoor raised garden beds. Our community gathering and dining spaces will help connect folks to other essential resources, using food as an entry point to additional support. These partnerships will include SNAP assistance, employment support through New Hampshire Employment Security, transportation resources, housing support, fuel assistance, among others — all under one roof, making access to help easier and more effective.
It is imperative that city and town leaders help connect people facing hunger to local resources. Municipal leaders are uniquely positioned to identify residents in need and ensure they know where to turn for support. By working together — nonprofits, government agencies, businesses, and individuals — we can create stronger social safeguards for our neighbors.
As we brace for the potential impact of these continued cuts, we urge local businesses, civic organizations, and individuals to stand with us. There are many ways to help — donating, volunteering, advocating for policy change, or simply spreading the word about available resources.
Food insecurity is a challenge we can solve together, and that will benefit everyone. When more residents thrive, our community will experience positive economic and social outcomes. If we act with urgency, compassion, and innovation, we can ensure that no one in our community faces hunger alone. Join us in strengthening the social services that support so many. Because at Gather, we believe that access to healthy food is a right, not a privilege.
Anne Hayes is executive director of Gather.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Gather expands fight against hunger amid NH and federal funding cuts