The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.

Due South

NC food banks strained amid shutdown. Some NC counties still waiting for Helene reimbursement. Plus, DIY Halloween costumes.

By Jeff Tiberii,

Leoneda Inge, Rachel McCarthy, Stacia Brown

Published October 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM EDT

Photo of a white grocery basket with oranges, lemons, green apples, tomatoes, peaches and potatoes. Beside it are canned drinks and a bag of rice. — File photo.

0:01:00

Amid government shutdown and growing need, food banks are under strain

As food insecurity increases across the 34 counties that the Central and Eastern North Carolina Food Bank serves, funding is decreasing and federal food insecurity tracking has also ended at the USDA. Jason Kanawati Stephany joins us to discuss the long-term impact of these strains on food bank resources.

Jason Kanawati Stephany, Vice President of Communications & Public Policy of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina

0:13:00

Western North Carolina counties are exhausting their annual budgets, awaiting promised federal funds

The federal government has barely covered 10 percent of Helene damage in North Carolina, according to Gov. Josh Stein’s Hurricane Helene Relief Federal Funding Request. County and state governments have maxed out their contributions to relief and repair, awaiting reimbursements from FEMA. Those reimbursements are currently delayed, in part due to bureaucratic red tape.

Brady Dennis, national environmental reporter, The Washington Post

0:33:00

Creative costumes aren’t just for crafters

Leoneda Inge talks with two sustainability advocates about leaning into your creative Halloween spirit to make your own Halloween costume this year.

Evie Dallmann, student and “Sustainability Steward,” North Carolina State University

Heather Anne, Interim Executive Director, The Scrap Exchange

Due South

Jeff Tiberii

Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.

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Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

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Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

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Stacia Brown

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as WUNC’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for WUNC's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.

See stories by Stacia Brown