"I share your commitment to continuing the successes of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program," Senator Collins wrote in her letter to the national board. "EFSP is truly a model program for bringing together non-profit groups at the federal and local level. The program''s many successes -- quickly and effectively providing services to those in need and tailoring the funding to meet local needs, all while minimizing administrative costs -- could not have been achieved without individuals like yourselves who serve on the national and local boards."
In March, Senator Collins introduced the Emergency Food and Shelter Act of 2004 to reauthorize the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and provide steady, but responsible increases in the program's budget to meet the growing need. Although Congress has continued to provide funding, the program''s authorization expired in 1994. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously approved her legislation earlier this month, and Senator Collins has pledged to work with Senate leadership to schedule her bill for consideration by the full Senate in the coming weeks.
"I know that ... you will be visiting some program recipients here in Portland," Senator Collins wrote. "I am very familiar with the invaluable services the Preble Street Resource Center, the Wayside Evening Soup Kitchen, and the People''s Regional Opportunity Program provide to the people of Southern Maine. These organizations, and many more like them throughout our great state, offer compelling testimony to the value of this program in basic, human terms."
In 2004, Maine received a total of $558,615 through the EFSP.
"It is your involvement in this vital program that enables communities here in Maine and across the nation to provide services to help individuals who are at risk of becoming homeless or going hungry due to an emergency or economic disaster," Senator Collins continue. "For my part, I pledge to do all that I can to ensure that the Emergency Food and Shelter Program is reauthorized this year."
Since its creation 21 years ago, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program has provided a helping hand to local social service organizations that assist thousands of people in need of food and shelter. A national board, chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, governs the program. The Board itself is composed of representatives from the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities; United Jewish Communities, the National Council of the Churches, the Salvation Army, and the United Way of America. The volunteer participation by these charitable organizations has kept administrative costs to less than 3% of the total program, making even more funds available for communities, the Senators noted.
Those funds are distributed by the national board according to a formula that includes unemployment and poverty statistics in each county. Once local boards -- composed of individuals and organizations who live and work in the communities they serve -- in counties, parishes and municipalities across America receive the funding, they decide how to best address the needs of their communities. For example, many communities use these funds to supplement the efforts of local soup kitchens, Meals-on-Wheels programs, and food pantries or to address emergency shelter and housing needs.
The Emergency Food and Shelter Program is administered by the Department of Homeland Security, over which the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction.
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