“It Feels Like We’re Going Backwards”: Sullivan Fresh Cupboard at Capacity as Food Insecurity Surges

Rising food and housing costs, paired with federal funding cuts, are hitting home. Sullivan Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) Community Cupboard reported that emergency calls for food aid have increased 100 percent in the past three months.

On Monday mornings, Sullivan Fresh program coordinators, Shanice Owens and Lynn Colavito, deliver more than 70 drop-offs of food to residents across Sullivan County. It’s part of their broader operation to deliver nutritious food to approximately 700 people weekly in hyper-rural communities and food deserts, in addition to powering an around the clock emergency delivery operation seven days a week.

The Sullivan Fresh van is packed to the brim with dozens of bags and boxes of fresh meats, herbs, boxed pasta, and pre-packaged meals like lentil soup donated by local businesses and farms.

“We give what we can, but we try to always make sure that there’s all the food groups,” said Owens.

But Community Cupboard staff say that the county’s demand for food assistance is rapidly growing, far beyond the team’s capacity. The program has a current waitlist of families and individuals eager to get on the weekly delivery route.

“I realize you can’t help everybody, but you just hate seeing people who need a little bit of help and some need a lot of help,” said Lynn Colavito.

During the July 7 Sullivan County Government Services Committee Meeting, CCE’s Prevention Programs Issue Leader Martin Colavito said more calls and referrals have flooded in, especially from people who work in higher education and local government.

Soaring housing costs, shrinking federal aid hit vulnerable communities the hardest

The Community Cupboard’s inception started as a grassroots effort by Martin Colavito to reach his neighbors during the 2020 COVID pandemic: Martin and Lynn Colavito had some extra lunches from the Monticello Central School District and several families who needed them. The two delivered the meals out of their car for 365 consecutive days.

Now, the Cupboard has grown under the umbrella of CCE’s robust programming, making more than 260 deliveries each week to houses, apartment complexes, motels, cars, and tents.

The sharp rise in food insecurity comes when food aid programs and food banks are still navigating the impact of federal budget cuts. In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut two federal programs that helped schools and food banks purchase food directly from local farms.

For the Community Cupboard team, it’s meant access to less cost-free food from their primary food source, the Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.

“Things like meat, eggs, fish, canned goods, now we have to pay for,” said Colavito. He worries that the federal response is an insufficient response to what he describes as “a lack of consideration for those who are suffering in our communities.”

“It feels like we’re going backwards,” he said.

These cuts come when Sullivan County and its surrounding areas are facing historically high housing costs.

A new report from Pattern for Progress shows that the cost of housing in the Hudson Valley is rising faster than wages for renters and home buyers. From 2024 to 2025, the average hourly wage of Sullivan County renters rose only 1 percent – only 8 cents from $15.13 to $15.21 an hour.

But the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in Sullivan County saw a substantial jump during that time period: rent jumped 13 percent from $1,078 to $1,223 a month.

In July 2025 alone, the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard made more than 1,200 deliveries. The Community Cupboard served more than 600 seniors, 1500 adults, and 700 children during the month of July, according to Community Cupboard data.

Lynn Colavito adds that the lack of reliable transportation only exacerbates food insecurity in the county. The expansion of MOVE Sullivan has been a game changer, she says, but many residents still can’t make it to their onsite weekly pantry. Colavito is concerned that with looming Medicaid and SNAP proposed cuts recently signed into President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, more people will need their support.

“I’m just worried if people’s SNAP benefits are reduced, besides who we’re helping now, can we help more?”

The Community Cupboard is open for food pick-up on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Liberty. You can also find a complete list of food pantries and free meals in Sullivan County in the Sullivan 180 Community Resource Guide.

Image: Lynn Colavito and Shanice Owens pack delivery bags of food at the Sullivan Fresh facility in Liberty, N.Y. (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)