The Holland Food Shelf announced Tuesday it would close its doors the last week of September, citing the loss of federal nutrition assistance funds and high rent costs as major factors in the decision.

“We can’t do it without funding,” said Don Stevens, executive director of the pantry’s nonprofit operator, Abenaki Helping Abenaki, and chief of the Nulhegan band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation. “It’s not just us, right?” he added, referencing Vermont Foodbank’s recent cuts in addition to other struggles in the state’s food assistance network.

The food pantry has served residents in and around Holland, a town sitting on the Northeast Kingdom’s border with Canada, since 2021. This year, Stevens said, demand had reached a peak, with the pantry sometimes serving nearly 700 people per month.

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