Hunger in the country has ticked up the last few years, with rising inflation and the end of pandemic-era food aid programs.

Recent spending cuts include two USDA programs that helped schools and food banks buy food from local farms. These cuts make a monumental impact in the services food banks like Mercer County can provide.

"It's about a third of our total distribution annually so we're just hopeful that some new programs will kick in here to kind of help," Becky Page, Director of the Community Food Warehouse said. "This is going to drastically reduce the amount of food we're able to put into the community for our friends and neighbors who need it," she said.

On top of that the foodbank has to navigate another loss of resources.

"Just this past week, USDA announced a $500 million cut to the CCC bonus program," Page said. "The cancellations are all the food we had ordered through August which translates into over 200 thousand pounds of food with a value of close to half a million dollars," she said.

Page tells 21 News the food bank is going to need more donations from the community to continue to meet the need.

"We're already in talks with our local foundations and our supporters. we need to ramp up local support to try to help make up some of this loss because we were expecting this food it was already on order and it has just been cancelled," Page said

The Greater Cleveland Food Bank reported on its Facebook page that 20 loads, or about 553,000 pounds of food, have now been canceled. The product, scheduled to be received between April and July and valued at nearly $1 million, included milk, protein like chicken, pork and turkey, and fruits and vegetables.

If you'd like to donate, visit mercercountyfoodbank.org.