Q&A with Melissa Cherney of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank

Photograph courtesy of Rhode Island Community Food Bank

Prior to moving to Rhode Island this summer, Melissa Cherney had spent her entire career in her home state of North Dakota, where she served as chief executive officer of the Great Plains Food Bank. She took over as head of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank in August after the retirement of longtime CEO Andrew Schiff, who led the organization for eighteen years. Her entry comes at a critical time for Rhode Island’s social safety net: Hunger rates have continued to rise — more than a third of Rhode Island households were food insecure in 2024 — and changing federal policies could spell challenges on the horizon. She spoke with Rhode Island Monthly in late October amid the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding crisis about how she’s changing the narrative around hunger and her ultimate goal to work herself out of a job.

What made you want to take this position in Rhode Island?

It’s interesting. I wasn’t looking for a move or a different position. I was reached out to by the recruiter because of my long background in food banking — not a lot of people have that in their background. I had a conversation with her and with the search committee. I was really impressed with how much the search committee, being a volunteer group, knew about the food bank and how passionate they were. And then I came out to Rhode Island, and I sort of fell in love with it from the moment I got off the plane. It was midnight, and I’m in your airport, and I hear your piano player. I had this moment of, ‘I’m tired, a little delirious, I don’t know where I am, but wherever I am, this is where I want to be.’ Because he was so happy. He was waving, the music was wonderful. I was like, ‘I’m sold, I’ll move here.’ [Editor’s note: Musicians at the airport are part of Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport’s volunteer music program.]

How has it been settling into the community service space here?

On one hand it feels like I’ve been here for two years, because the work is familiar, and on the other hand it seems like I’ve been here for two days. It’s nice because I know how a food bank operates, but there is a saying in food banking that if you’ve seen one food bank you’ve seen one food bank, because they are all so different. And they’re all unique, and they all respond to the needs of their community and their state in different ways. It has been really incredible to be able to walk in and know about the work that we’re doing, but seeing it done in a little different way than it was done in North Dakota. Obviously, they’re two very different states, operate different programs, there’s a much more diverse population here, and I’m just so impressed with how the food bank listens to their guests and responds in a very personalized way to their hunger needs.

What’s an example of that?

Culturally appropriate foods. I think for a long time, food banks had this philosophy that if you came in and you got a food box, we ended hunger for you. And now it’s really focused on making sure you have the right food — the food that your family will eat, that you have the equipment to prepare, that is medically tailored for you, that is culturally appropriate — to make sure that we actually did help you and not just say, ‘If I handed you a twenty-pound box of kohlrabi, I can say I ended hunger for you.’ But really you didn’t. And so it’s getting much more personal.

What are some of your goals here at the food bank in Rhode Island?

There is an amazing staff here, and one of my first goals is to sit down one-on-one with every staff person. I’m making progress on that. And then to get out to our agencies. We work with 137 food pantries and meal sites. I won’t get to all of them within a year, but I do want to get to as many as possible and build that relationship and trust and the collaboration that it takes. I think short-term it’s a lot of learning and listening, because I’m not from here and recognize that. I think long-term I’m hoping that you never need a food bank in the state. I hope that every day, we’re one step closer to ending hunger, and that we’re one day closer to working ourselves out of a job. I don’t know how we do that yet, but hunger’s solvable. There’s enough food produced in this country to feed every single person, yet not everyone has access to it. It seems like that’s an equation that can be solved, we just have not figured it out yet.

What is the difference between the food bank and a food pantry?

Food banks were set up and designed to recover surplus food that would otherwise go to waste — to bring it into one central hub, a large warehouse with a large inventory, and then get it out to all of the food pantries and soup kitchens. If you think of it, we’re sort of the grocery store for all of the food pantries and soup kitchens. We’re bringing in product from all across the country. As soon as it comes into our warehouse, we put it on an online shopping system, and then all of the food pantries place an order once a week and they can either come pick it up or we deliver it directly to their door.

Do they purchase the food from you?

It’s completely free of charge.

How much food do you go through in a typical week?

Right now, we’re on track to do about 300,000 pounds of food a week. And that’s prior to the SNAP shutdown, which I think is just going to increase [the amount]. In our warehouse, we can hold 2.1 million pounds of food. Right now, we have about 700,000 pounds, and that will last us about a week to ten days.

Where do you think Rhode Island falls short in serving the need?

One of the trends I’ve noticed here is the food insecurity numbers continue to increase. That really brings to light the fact that hunger doesn’t exist in a vacuum. When someone is hungry, they have issues with transportation and child care and poverty. There are just so many pieces that we need to look at holistically and bring all the resources to the person in one spot so it’s sort of a one-stop shop. I think Rhode Island does a good job of that; I think there’s always more that we can do.

Are you seeing trends in particular demographics?

We’re seeing more families and more seniors. We have a lot of baby boomers that are aging and when they’re exiting the workforce, they still have needs. I think that is one of the populations that concerns me. I know that housing is extremely expensive, and I say this having moved here and tried to find housing. It’s a struggle to find something that’s reasonable, and so more and more of people’s wages are going to housing and there’s less leftover to pay for food. There’s a health care crisis at the same time, and people are making those tough choices
between medication and health care and housing, and food is probably the one thing that they don’t have funds left for. I think that’s probably why it’s going up, because the cost of everything is so much right now.

Where in Rhode Island do you live?

I am in the Edgewood neighborhood in Cranston. Got a beautiful house, a lovely neighborhood, the best neighbors. My neighbors warned me that you will get several hundred children [for Halloween], so I spent a small fortune out buying candy.

You’ve spoken previously about being on SNAP earlier in your life. Tell us a little bit about your background and how that impacts the work you do now.

When I was in college, it was my junior year, and I was working two jobs. I got a job at the catering department in the college that year because I knew I’d get a meal at the end of my shift. It was a tough year in terms of the fact that I lived off campus and had to pay rent, and my parents were supporting my brother who started college that year.

And I remember my mom came over. She would always, like moms do, look in the cupboards to make sure I had enough food. My cupboards were always full, so she never questioned it. But had she actually pulled out the boxes of cereal, they’d have been empty. I would eat it, and I’d just put it back in there so it looked like it was full. And eventually, she saw through it and said, ‘You should apply for SNAP.’ And so I did. I didn’t think anything of it. I never considered myself hungry or food insecure, I just saw myself as a struggling college student who was doing what you needed to get by. And I was on SNAP for about four months. It wasn’t a long time, and I think that’s exactly what SNAP is for; it’s to give you a hand up at a time you need it. But it was at that point that I felt better. I knew I could get up and go to class and pay attention. I never considered that a key part of my story or past. It wasn’t why I went into food banking; it was just a circumstance in my life for a few months. I was actually working at the food bank for probably about ten years before I shared the story, just because it didn’t define me. It was a moment where somebody referred to people that go to food pantries as ‘those people.’ And that’s when it hit me that I was one of those people, and that I also needed to change the narrative and share my story because hunger can happen to anyone.

You serve as chair of Feeding America’s Policy Engagement and Advocacy Committee. What kind of policies does the food bank advocate for?

SNAP is top of mind right now, but I think the thing to remember is neither food banks or SNAP-like federal nutrition programs were set up to solve the problem of hunger. They were all supplemental, and they’re designed to work together. But again, hunger is a piece of the puzzle. I think when we think about policy, we really have to zoom out and think about all of the things that impact low-income individuals and families. That’s making sure that we have a living wage. That’s making sure that we have access to health care. That’s making sure that we have public transit systems. It’s really thinking about hunger in a much broader way of, ‘How do we ensure that people can thrive?’ On a national level, there’s a lot around the farm bill that we always work on because our farmers grow our food. We’re in the food business. We need to make sure that they’re taken care of as well. We need to make sure everyone has access to food, and healthy, nutritious food. On the local level, I would say statewide there’s been a lot done around school meals, and feeding kids has such great, incredible consequences. Some of the things that we’ll be paying attention to are making sure that there are no limits on SNAP, making sure that people can still have the dignity to purchase whatever food they want to purchase in the grocery store, and the grocery store’s not dictating what you can and can’t purchase with those dollars.

What do you think is the greatest challenge facing the food bank?

Higher need with lower food. We have less food coming in — that really has been a result of COVID. Less donations coming, forcing us to purchase more just to make sure that we have food on our shelves, and more and more people needing services because of the high cost of everything. I don’t know how we’re going to keep up.

Is the food bank still below pre-COVID donation levels?

Yes, we are. At the height of COVID, they were serving around 21 million pounds of food [annually]. Last year we did 18 million, this year we’re on track to do about 15 million. We’re doing less food but serving more people.

How has the transition been moving here from North Dakota?

It’s been really good. I have been sort of blown away with how welcomed I’ve been. I think there’s this stereotype of New Englanders — everyone in North Dakota is like, ‘They’re going to be so rude, and you’re never going to fit in.’ I will tell you — the day that I moved in, my neighbors brought over food. I had met them all within twenty-four hours. I feel like I just have a whole state of new friends.

Do you have a favorite place in Rhode Island yet?

Fellini’s Pizza in Pawtuxet Village, which is within walking distance, which is probably why it’s my favorite because I can go get a slice. Although Seven Stars Bakery is right up there, too.

What can people do to help address the issue of hunger?

You can’t tell when a person is hungry — it really hides in plain sight. Building awareness that it can be our neighbors, it can be our co-workers, it can be someone at your church, it can be someone at your school, is one of the most powerful things that we can do. And then use and raise your voice. You can donate — there’s always donating volunteer time at your local pantry, donating funds, donating food, but also just amplifying the story and making sure that people are aware that this exists and that we need to build an army that is dedicated to fighting hunger. The only way we’re actually going to solve it is if we all stand together with the same North Star and take care of each other.

Anything else you want to share?

I have two golden retrievers — Cece and Nilla, like a Nilla wafer. Cece’s nine, and Nilla’s three. Those are my little rescue babies that came from North Dakota.