Food Podcast: Pittsburgh food bank's Denny McManus discusses food assistant programs

As the Government Affairs Director for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Denny McManus has interacted with dozens of elected officials throughout the years.

“Oftentimes, government is fairly complicated,” he said. “We can help to simplify those things.”

McManus oversees the impact of governmental food assistance programs including The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), State Food Purchase Program (SFPP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus Program (PASS) and the new Farmers to Families food box program.

One program that has significant impact on food assistance is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“It’s been estimated that for every one meal that food banks can provide, the SNAP program at the same time provides about 9-12 meals,” McManus said.

It was in March during a regularly scheduled conference that McManus first started to understand that covid-19 could shift much of his work. He was alongside Adam Morgan, the Food Bank’s Advocacy Coordinator.

“Adam and I were in Washington, D.C., when the first inkling of covid-19 being very serious first came to light. It was at the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference where we were told to do an elbow-bump instead of handshaking,” McManus explained.

Shortly thereafter, reality set in at home.

“As the pandemic took hold and as the economic impact began to unfold, for a lot of people, the first inkling that we had a real, big problem was really those drone shots of our food distribution in Duquesne and those pictures of long lines of folks trying to get food for the first time in their lives,” he said.

McManus said this quickly led to conversations with elected officials about how to support individuals facing hunger. Their response was swift, he said.

He encourages everyone to speak to each other and their elected officials about the importance of anti-hunger legislation and action.

“All of us as citizens can advocate for support of anti-hunger efforts with the government,” he said. “There is a direct relationship between people speaking to their government and governmental leaders and what actions those governments take.”

LISTEN: Interview with food bank government affairs director Denny McManus