“You can’t cut back on your rent, putting gas in your car, [or] critical healthcare, so where people tend to cut back is around food,” Jeff Lemberg, director of the Newton Food Pantry, said.

For the past 43 years, the Newton Food Pantry has been providing all kinds of food, with an emphasis on fresh produce, to residents of Newton undergoing financial stress. But as prices for gas and utilities rise, Lemberg said, fresh food becomes less affordable.

“It leads to [serious] negative health effects, for seniors, older adults, [and] particularly for children who are growing and developing,” Lemberg said. “As a mission-driven nonprofit, we use our resources to make sure that we’re helping people stay healthy and stay well.”

Having moved from the basement of Newton City Hall to a permanent facility at 131 Rumford Avenue in June 2026, the Newton Food Pantry has expanded greatly while still delivering on the promises it made during its founding in 1983.

The Newton Food Pantry operates similarly to a grocery store: allowing its clients the dignity to select fresh, nutritious, and even culturally relevant food for themselves and their families free of charge. However, with its mission already an expensive endeavor reliant on the donations of individuals, foundations and grants alike, the pantry has had to actively accommodate for the increasing food insecurity that has come with rapid inflation and unfavorable economic policies.

“We’ve seen a significant number of Newton residents over the last year who have lost their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits,” Lemberg explained. “In Newton, currently 3,700 people are on SNAP. That’s down from 4,300 a year ago. It’s not 600 fewer people because they’re doing so well. It’s 600 fewer people [getting] kicked off.”

This issue arose from major cuts in SNAP funding and the many new, strict requirements created by the Trump Administration’s Reconciliation Bill of July 2025. Newton being a city of nearly 90,000 residents, the 5% on SNAP were not the only ones finding themselves more in need of the pantry.

Although Social Security payments increased by 2.8% back in January, inflation increased by 3.5% in the last year, leaving a different population of Newtonians vulnerable: “30% of our clients are older adults, so age 65-plus, and we’re really leaning into expanding our services to cater to the growing number of seniors in our community who struggle,” Lemberg said. “A lot of these people live in affordable housing units. A lot of them are on fixed incomes, so they’re truly reliant on social security checks, and so if those dollars don’t go as far as they used to, that’s problematic.”

Alongside the increased number of clients, the pantry also has had to adapt to soaring prices of certain produce items it focuses on stocking.

“We [have] to be more creative in how we’re procuring our foods for distribution,” Lemberg continued. “There are foods like tomatoes where the price has gone up quite a bit. Other things like sweet potatoes, less so.” The weekly decision of what to swap certain stock with is also affected by current events such as the recent Cyclospora outbreak. “When there are outbreaks, [such as] foodborne outbreaks around iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico, we’re not carrying that, we’re getting romaine. You [have to] make choices.”

He attributes these choices and the resulting budgeting success to Pantry Manager Denise Daniels.

Additionally, rampant inflation is not just reflected in the cost of food. For a nonprofit, it affects almost all aspects of operation.

“The price of gas is through the roof, having a huge effect on grocery prices because most food is transported in this country through diesel-fueled trucks, [which] is the most costly fuel,” Lemberg said.

Given that a lot of their produce is trucked over from local farms in towns like Chelsea, rising transportation costs now have to be factored into the pantry’s budget. But even for clients, the rising gas prices force them to lean on the pantry that much more.

“There is a macro and a microeconomic effect from all of this, the ones least able to absorb the hit [end up] suffering the most.”

When asked about which populations are least able to absorb said “hit,” Lemberg also makes it clear that the new SNAP requirements encompass residents not previously beneath the poverty line.

“They’ve purposely made it really challenging for people to access the benefit under the guise of rooting out fraud,” says Lemberg. “It’s not the random household of a family raising two kids committing some sort of mastermind fraud. That’s just nonsense.” He also explains the extent to which some of these ‘fraud protections’ can become ridiculous. “It’s [initially] about your household income and your sources of income, [but] there are requirements based on your age; you have to show proof of looking for a job, [even] proof of volunteering, but the amount of hours that you need to show is so high.”

Although the task of being a local food pantry in America is becoming exponentially harder, Lemberg credits the Newton Food Pantry’s permanent staff, who have been in place since 2022, for their continued commitment.

“New food pantries are not built to absorb this amount of the work. We’re fortunate in that we are a strong, healthy organization with a talented staff and a dedicated group of volunteers,” said Lemberg.

But with the existing financial obstacles only being further exacerbated, he also acknowledges it is a difficult task.

“Whether it’s inflation, the challenges of accessing social service benefits from the government, the rising costs and public health scares that are limiting people’s access to certain foods, it’s not a great time in our world,” Lemberg continued. But he affirms that the Newton Food Pantry is doing everything possible to make sure it’s steadfastly present for the Newton residents who need it. “We’re here, we’re growing, and we’re continuing to meet the need.”