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Donations received through the statewide Feed Utah food drive are shown Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Community Action Services and Food Bank's Provo warehouse is pictured Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Donations received through the statewide Feed Utah food drive are pictured Saturday, March 15, 2025.

Courtesy Community Action Service and Food Bank

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Volunteers work inside the food pantry at Community Action Services and Food Bank on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Donations received through the statewide Feed Utah food drive are pictured Saturday, March 15, 2025.

Courtesy Community Action Services and Food Bank

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The number of residents in Utah County experiencing food insecurity continues to rise at a steady pace.

Community Action Services and Food Bank in Provo reports that it saw about a 9% increase in people seeking food assistance between 2023 and 2024, so local food drives are vital in helping the Utah nonprofit meet the needs of people in the community who rely on their resources.

Earlier this month, the Utah Food Bank and other organizations, faith-based congregations and residents united for the fourth annual Feed Utah statewide food drive.

Volunteers collected donations from individual residences, at participating grocery stores and at different drop-off sites.

The items were then disseminated to local food pantries to restock their shelves.

CASFB Chief Impact Officer Jessica Miller said the agency received more than 92,000 pounds of food donations from the March 15 campaign.

“We are grateful for the community’s support,” she said.

Aside from its food pantries in Provo and Springville, Community Action also services areas in Summit and Wasatch counties.

In 2024, Community Action served more than 25,000 people, according to its latest fiscal impact report. That’s more than four times the amount of people it was serving just five years ago, according to Miller.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve really seen the need increase, just as inflation has gone up and housing costs. That has really played a big role, I think, in the need that we’re seeing for food assistance as well as rental assistance here at Community Action,” said Miller in a phone call Monday afternoon.

But food assistance is only a fraction of what the organization does.

Community Action also offers rental assistance, eviction prevention services, various literacy programs and supportive resources for those looking to break the cycle of poverty.

However, the nonprofit is concerned about the future of some of its programs with President Donald Trump’s pause earlier this year on federal funds in efforts to limit government spending.

Miller said 75% of Community Action’s funding comes from the federal government, and possible cuts would only tighten the squeeze on Community Action’s efforts to offer services to people in need.

In some cases, programs could face elimination if funding goes away — which, according to Miller, is still unclear at this point.

“We are in an uncertain space right now with federal dollars, we have had funding paused then unpaused multiple times since the beginning of the year,” she said.

One example of how the funding freeze puts their services at risk is through the prevention of its ability to help someone obtain housing.

“We provide the contracted services — such as payment of a rental security deposit that helps someone experiencing homelessness get into an apartment — in good faith that those expenses will be reimbursed to us,” Miller said. “Uncertainty about whether claims will be paid adds risk to providing those contracted services in the first place.”

Some financial cuts have already hit the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which impacts Community Action’s local food purchase assistance program.

This designated funding allows the nonprofit to purchase fruits, vegetables and proteins from local disadvantaged farmers and ranchers and then distribute that food through local food pantries.

Miller said her agency will no longer receive funds for that program once the current contract expires early next year.

“Our diaper program, our Circles Initiative and many of our housing assistance programs are federally funded. We have not heard yet whether these grants will be offered again in the future,” she added.

In anticipation of other funding that could disappear, Community Action is exploring other measures of fundraising.

Miller said they’ve recently launched a new Community Investor Sponsorship program to expand local community support for their local food pantries, community gardens and events.

“We think it’s a really great opportunity for those that want to make sure that those of their neighbors who need help getting back on their feet still have resources in our community to turn to when they need them,” Miller told the Daily Herald.

Donations and volunteers are currently being sought; those interested in learning more can visit communityactionprovo.org.