Montgomery County commissioners rerouted $1 million normally earmarked for economic development projects to support The Foodbank Inc.
The money comes as The Foodbank saw nearly $1 million in federal and state cuts to food aid programs in recent months amid high demand for assistance, said Lee Lauren Truesdale, the nonprofit's chief development officer.
"The county is an incredible partner in the work that we do here at The Foodbank," she said.
The emergency money will go toward continuing to provide service to its three counties, with about half being used for wholesale food purchases for fiscal year 2026. The remainder will be used for next fiscal year and to build a kitchen in its new facility opening in 2026.
The money was given to The Foodbank on Aug. 19. It came from the fall grant cycle of the Economic Development/Government Equity program, also known as ED/GE.
ED/GE has historically offered grants for job creation, business expansion and community growth, starting in the '90s when county staff created a program they hoped would entice companies to the area, Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge said.
The program uses sales tax dollars from communities that want to be involved with business support and expansion. Dodge said the Dayton Chamber of Commerce played a big role in establishing ED/GE, along with the Township Trustees Association, the Mayors and Managers Association, the villages and business leaders.
This is the first time that fall ED/GE grants have been canceled and donated to The Foodbank, Inc., a nonprofit that offers hunger relief through more than 110 partners across Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties.
"Everyone is very much aware of this and I'm proud of our community that we've got no backlash or anything, and this has been a very positive thing for our community," Dodge said.
"Now what scares me is that it could get worse," she said, "and I'm just so nervous about what can happen in the future here."
Helping break the cycle of poverty
Truesdale said The Foodbank will mark its 50th year of service in 2026 as one of 12 food banks in the state of Ohio and one of over 200 across the nation.
The group relies on individual contributions.
"About 75% of all cash donations that come into the food bank to support our acquisition, distribution of food, programming and work comes from individuals in our community," Truesdale said.
The Foodbank also receives funding from corporations through grants and sponsorships, as well as foundation grants.
Truesdale said that community funding provides people in their three counties a route to avoid falling into the cycle of poverty.
“The cycle of poverty is very challenging to get out of and once you're in that cycle, how do we get someone out of that cycle,” she said. “So if we can just prohibit folks from falling into that cycle and making sure they have what they need so they can get by when there's a hard challenge or a hard time coming up is also very important to that.”
But food insecurity has risen over the years as funding sources have become scarcer. Truesdale said during fiscal year 2025, the Foodbank distributed 17.4 million pounds of food, served 49,736 households and 132,755 people.
That compares to fiscal year 2019 when it distributed 16 million pounds of food to 40,662 households and 108,127 people.
"It's important to note that a month of service in FY19 was tornado needs based as well," Truesdale said.
Federal funding cuts hit hard
According to Truesdale, receiving emergency money from the county replaced vital federal and state funding sources that were cut in recent months.
"In March, we started hearing it about these cuts, and we actually received a loss of 12 truck loads of product," Truesdale said.
Major cuts hit other programs, including the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program and the Summer Feeding Program.
“The total of all of those cuts equated to just shy of $1 million for us," she said. "So we knew we would walk into this new fiscal year 2026 with a million less of food product on the floor.”
County Commissioner Dodge said she noticed how hard The Foodbank was hit by federal and state funding cuts, and she knew they had to do something.
"I've been working on this for many, many years and the statistics are not getting any better. It seems like we take two, three steps forward and then boom, the economy blows up in our face," she said. "I think the latest poll shows [in] 2023, Feeding America, they are saying that about, 14, 15% of residents here in Montgomery County are food insecure. Which means they don't know where their next meal is coming from and we have food deserts in parts of Montgomery County."
Dodge said while it was a difficult decision, commissioners agreed redirecting the grant money was necessary to fight food insecurity.
“We're still very much involved with ED/GE, and we hope to have a spring program where companies can come in," she said. "We're not giving up on that at all, but this was just one of those emergencies that we felt was critical.”
Future funding plans
With growing uncertainty around future funding through the 2026 Farm Bill, Truesdale said they're looking at the possibility of losing around $4.4 million worth of food product.
"That's massive, that is quite a bit. So we are anxious to see how that turns out and we were thoughtful and cognizant that we might need to have a larger conversation with our community about the farm bill, especially if we receive cuts from that," she said.
Dodge said she and her fellow county commissioners are also concerned about the future when it comes to funding for local food banks.
"We're keeping our eyes open, we are constantly in touch with other people," she said. "We're just always, always on our tiptoes and we're always watching.
