The STORE Act of 2025 expands and modernizes the Emergency Food Assistance Program’s infrastructure grants to better support food distribution in underserved communities while mandating a national study on cold storage needs.
Suzanne Bonamici
Representative
OR-1
The STORE Act of 2025 strengthens the Emergency Food Assistance Program by increasing annual funding to $25 million and modernizing infrastructure grants to better support food storage, distribution technology, and delivery services. The bill expands grant eligibility to prioritize Tribal, low-income, and remote communities while mandating a national study to assess and address critical shortages in cold storage and transportation equipment.
STORE Act of 2025 Boosts Food Bank Funding to $25 Million and Expands Delivery to Remote Communities
The STORE Act of 2025 is essentially a logistical tune-up for the nation’s food safety net. It bumps the annual budget for food bank infrastructure from $15 million to $25 million and shifts the focus from just 'storing' food to actually getting it into people's kitchens. By updating the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983, the bill aims to modernize how food banks operate, moving beyond old-school pantries to include mobile units and home delivery services. It also broadens the priority list for funding: while rural areas are still in the mix, the bill now explicitly includes Tribal, low-income, and remote communities as high-priority zones for new equipment and upgrades.
Moving the Middleman
One of the biggest shifts in Section 2 is a change in who holds the checkbook. Currently, local food banks often apply directly for federal infrastructure grants. Under the STORE Act, the money will flow directly to state agencies first. These states are then responsible for distributing the cash to local organizations. For a small food pantry in a remote town, this means they’ll be dealing with state officials rather than federal bureaucrats in D.C. While this could mean more localized support, it also adds a layer of state-level administration. To keep things lean, the bill caps administrative costs at 10%, ensuring that at least 90 cents of every dollar goes toward actual hardware like freezers, trucks, or tech systems.
Beyond the Loading Dock
The bill also gets realistic about what it takes to run a modern charity. Previously, grant money for technology was mostly tied to tracking 'perishable' foods. Section 2(c) strips that away, allowing funds to be used for any technology that helps distribute food efficiently. This could mean better inventory software for a warehouse manager or GPS routing for a driver delivering meals to seniors. It also moves the goalposts on facility work; instead of just building brand-new warehouses, organizations can now use the funds to renovate existing buildings. For a nonprofit in a high-cost urban area, fixing up an old storefront is often much more practical than trying to break ground on a new site.
Mapping the Cold Chain
Finally, the bill acknowledges a major 'hidden' problem in food security: the cold chain. Section 3 puts $1$ million toward a massive two-year study to find out exactly where the country is missing refrigerated trucks and industrial freezers. It’s not just about the big food banks; the study includes every 'emergency food organization' down to local school programs and community groups. By defining 'shortages' as the gap between what an area has and what it actually needs to feed everyone, the government is looking to create a literal shopping list of every cooler, trailer, and dry truck needed to close the hunger gap nationwide. This data will likely drive where that new $25$ million in annual funding gets spent starting in 2026.