MONTGOMERY – The cost of fuel needed for the Regional Food Bank trucks to deliver food to local pantries is up by more than 50 percent from last year thanks to tariffs and most recently the war in Iran with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and that is putting a large crimp on the amount of food that can be delivered within its 23-county region.
The food bank serves 41 percent of the land from the Hudson Valley to the North Country and Adirondack Region, and it anticipates fuel spending will be up $10,000 from this month last year, said Taj Plante, vice president of operations.
“Our operating costs are up 54 percent for fuel along, so rather than buying such things as food and medicine, what it is impacting is they are putting into the gas tanks to get to work just like we are putting into our fuel tanks to be able to be able deliver the food,” he said.
The doubled operating costs would have otherwise provided 30,000 meals to neighbors in need, food bank officials said.
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