Trump proposes to cut food boxes for low-income seniors, a move that ‘hurts’ thousands of Pennsylvanians, advocates say

The White House is recommending so-called Make America Healthy Again food boxes, which it says would be sourced from farmers and given directly to American households.

Share Food Program in North Philadelphia distributes food boxes to more than 7,000 people in the region. The federal program that funds these efforts could be eliminated under President Donald Trump's budget proposal. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

by Alfred Lubrano for the Philadelphia Inquirer

• Published May 15, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget would eliminate funding for a small but effective anti-hunger program that provides boxes of food that help nourish and sustain low-income senior citizens throughout Pennsylvania and the nation.

Scrapping the more than 50-year-old senior food box plan would hurt older Pennsylvanians with scant resources, according to Stuart Haniff, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, Hunger-Free Pennsylvania, which represents a network of 18 food banks across the state — including Share Food Program and Philabundance in Philadelphia — that administer the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which provides the senior boxes.

Share in North Philadelphia distributes boxes to 7,189 people in the Philadelphia region aged 60 and above who take in $23,000 or less annually, according to Hunger-Free Pennsylvania figures — more than any other organization in the state.

Philabundance serves 2,744 people. Throughout the commonwealth, the senior box program, which costs $20 million annually, serves 38,000 people.

“The boxes are critical lifesavers,” Haniff said. “Removing them will create uncertainty and chaos at a time when Congress wants to cut SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) as food prices rise.”

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