Less food, more demand: Ohio’s rural food pantries cope with federal cuts

As a steady trickle of cars pulled into a gravel roundabout one morning in Stockport, a tiny village in southeast Ohio, volunteers loaded cardboard boxes into truck beds and passenger seats.

They were filled with pantry staples: apple juice, corn flakes, kidney beans and elbow macaroni.

“We try to provide a three-day supply of food,” said Stefanie Thompson, the executive director of Morgan County United Ministries, which runs this mobile food pantry. “But it's tight, especially if you have more than two or three members of your household.”

Recently, it’s become even tighter.

Because of federal funding cuts, Thompson’s organization isn’t able to get as many groceries from the local food bank.

“These boxes are about five items lighter than what we had typically been doing,” she said — a