HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Since COVID-era food assistance programs were rolled back, the Peninsula Foodbank has seen a gradually increasing need for help, but rising inflation is making things worse, and in the past five years, it has seen a roughly 15% to 20% increase in people turning to it for help . "A lot of our neighbors are making what is called "impossible choices" between food and other basic needs like medication, shelter, transportation, utilities," said Craig Gallaer with the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank. "So oftentimes, food takes the back burner and they are skipping meals or sacrificing nutrition." About 30% of the food the Peninsula Foodbank receives comes from Department of Agriculture-sponsored programs. With cuts from earlier this month, it is losing about 55,000 pounds of food per year, which amounts to about $155,000. They are closely watching The Emergency Food Assistance Program in the upcoming farm bill, working closely with elected officials. "Right now, we are seeing kind of a cautious wait-and-see approach with what happens on that front," Gallaer said. "We're hoping that there aren't too many cuts to those programs, but we have a bipartisan approach to food insecurity, and we have strong relationships with our local and state officials and federal officials. And we know that they're advocating for us, and we're advocating for our neighbors as well." They are also taking a close look at the local impacts on tariffs. It is an evolving situation, so they are not certain exactly how the tariffs would impact them. Generally speaking, if food becomes more expensive, they have to spend more to fill the foodbank. The Virginia Peninsula Foodbank also heavily relies on donations from the community to help keep mouths fed. Information on how to help can be found by clicking here. ...read more read less