REGION 1 – FEMA recently awarded a $1,947,350 grant to the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development for the State of Vermont’s innovative Emergency Feeding Program.
The grant covers the state’s Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE) Program, which provided nutritious meals to high-risk populations impacted by COVID-19 throughout Vermont from March 15 to April 11 of this year.
The program launched in August 2020 to leverage Vermont’s independent restaurants and robust system of farms and food producers to help feed Vermonters and families in need across the state. Since then, $10 million has been generated for more than 200 local restaurants to help feed Vermonters experiencing food insecurity.
On April 29, VEE-administered by Westminster-based Southeastern Vermont Community Action , celebrated 1 million restaurant meals served to Vermonters in crisis. The statewide program on-the-ground community “hubs” in each of the 14 Vermont counties has over 130 distribution sites managed by 18 regional partners.
This project was funded through FEMA’s Public Assistance Program, which reimburses eligible applicants for actions taken in the immediate response and during recovery from a major disaster. Eligible applicants include states, local governments, Tribes, territories and certain private non-profit organizations.
“We are pleased to provide funds to the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development to help accomplish the mission of feeding Vermonters who are struggling as a result of COVID-19,” said Acting Region 1 Administrator and Federal Coordinating Officer Paul Ford, who oversees FEMA’s operations throughout New England. “We will continue to work closely with the agency and the State of Vermont as our shared efforts to respond to this pandemic continues.”
FEMA also announced on April 29 a $1,972,612 grant to the agency for the State of Vermont’s Emergency Feeding Program to high-risk populations impacted by COVID-19 statewide from Jan. 18 to March 14, 2021.
FEMA has obligated more than $321 million related to the pandemic in Vermont, as of May 13.
Additional information about FEMA’s PA Program is at https://www.fema.gov/public-assistance-local-state-tribal-and-non-profit.
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FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters