The Confluence

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank spending 'almost 30% more' on food purchases

Published November 22, 2021 at 9:20 AM EST

The farm bill proposes a $1 billion cut to food stamps, which would affect nearly 850,000 struggling families who already depend on food banks like the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, Calif.

On today’s episode of The Confluence: Heading into the holidays, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is seeing increased costs for food and transportation, but is still able to meet the community’s need; Amazon is looking to develop a distribution center in Churchill, but it’s causing tension among residents; and the challenges new farmers face finding and purchasing land.

The Confluence

Kevin Gavin

Kevin Gavin is the host of WESA's news interview program "The Confluence." He is a native Pittsburgher and served as news director for 90.5 WDUQ for 34 years. Since the sale of the radio station by Duquesne University to Pittsburgh EPM, Inc. (now Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corp.), he served as Executive Producer of Special News Projects prior to being named as host of "The Confluence" five years ago. kgavin@wesa.fm

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Laura Tsutsui

Laura Tsutsui is a producer for The Confluence, WESA's morning news show. Previously, she reported on the San Joaquin Valley with the NPR affiliate station in her hometown of Fresno, California. She can be reached at ltsutsui@wesa.fm.

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Marylee Williams

Marylee is the editor/producer of The Confluence, the daily public affairs show on WESA. She got her start in journalism at The Daily Reveille and KLSU while attending Louisiana State University. She took her passion for audio journalism to UC Berkeley's graduate program and worked in public radio at WPR in Madison, WI, and WOSU in Columbus, Ohio.

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Rebecca Reese

Rebecca Reese is a production assistant for The Confluence.

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