Dear Hunger Relief Leader,

I have previously written about uncertainty and we are experiencing no less of it today than earlier this year. However, what is increasingly certain is that government programs are at least temporarily losing funding. Specifically, and acutely, SNAP runs out this weekend and WIC likely a week from now tied directly to the government shutdown.

At VAFS, we have no better foresight than any of you with regards to how this will play out, but we did expect impact this year and we assumed that it would create one or more problems for our customers for which food would be a part of the solution. So, we partnered more aggressively and intentionally with our freight vendor, manufacturers and importers, and 3PLs to carry more inventory, align our assortment with your demand, and tighten our service to match your needs.

What we are seeing right now:

• Healthy Eating box demand is exploding (week over week demand is up 450%). Many states, counties, and donors are releasing funds and our food bank customers seem to view this box specifically as a turnkey solution to fill SNAP gaps… especially where ease or simplicity of distribution is paramount. In response, VAFS implemented two-shift, 7 days per week operations in our Wayland facility to maximize fulfillment and minimize lead time for box assemblies.
• Week-over-week demand increased 275% across all our mixing centers. Given our 5-day lead time, this is a very clear indication that urgent need is reducing available stock from the wholesale supply chain. We have some temporary out-of-stocks and expect this to persist in some high-demand items for 1 to 2 weeks until our supply chain replenishes following the surge. In the interim, some of our customers are placing orders at the mixing center location where the item is currently in stock, rather than where cost is lowest.
• Not necessarily acute, but for some commodities manufacturers are running low or temporarily removing product availability. We are intentional about taking positions on these items before supply runs out, but pragmatically, we can only carry a few months of expected demand. When demand triples, those few months become a few weeks.

We are leaning in to keep the food flowing down all of our channels right now. My advice to all of you from a procurement perspective is to get ahead of it. Predict what you will need and how much risk you can tolerate. Then work your vendor base to help them help you navigate through this certainly uncertain government funding crisis. For example, if anyone anticipates needing diapers or formula to fill a WIC gap, call me. We will source and take the position for you.