NNEMAP Food Pantry is committed to the families who trust us for food and other services each week.  Over the last 3 years the number of families we served has tripled.  That means more food is necessary to feed the over 56,000 families and over 188,000 individuals in those families.  At the same time, just as you are experiencing increased food costs at the grocery, we also have experienced an almost 400% increase in food costs since before the pandemic hit. We anticipate that food costs will continue to increase in 2025 and beyond.

To help with the high cost of food we have been purchasing, beginning in March 2025 NNEMAP will introduce our Produce Protein Express (PPE) one week per month for most months.  During PPE week, we will provide fresh produce, protein and bread, as available; personal care items will also be available as we have been providing.  During those weeks, visits by our SNAP outreach team, insurance companies, and others will continue to occur.  The only change during PPE week is your shopping cart will not have any shelf stable items (canned foods, pasta, rice, etc.)  – the items’ with costs that have risen dramatically over the last 3 years.

To help you plan, our PPE weeks will be the first full week of each month as follows:

March 3-8                      June 2-7                         October 6-11

April 7-12                      August 4-9                    November 3-8

May 5-10                       September 2-6              December 1-6

We realize this change could take some adapting and we will do everything we can to help make the adjustment during those weeks as easy as possible for you and your family.