Henrico County donates $100,000 to support FeedMore during SNAP cuts

Henrico County is pledging $100,000 to Feed More, Central Virginia’s main food distribution organization, as the federal government shutdown continues to stall food assistance benefits.

While Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Tuesday that the state will be able to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, temporarily through the month of November, SNAP benefits will begin rolling out to recipients on Nov. 3 instead of the usual Nov. 1 date, creating a two-day gap for individuals who rely on the program.

A total of 37,284 people in Henrico, about 11% of the county's population, rely upon the $6.7 million that comes through SNAP benefits every month, according to County Manager John Vithoulkas. For the average U.S. household, SNAP provides around $332 in groceries each month for all household members.

Instead of filling recipients’ SNAP cards with the normal monthly amount, the state’s temporary program – Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance – will fill cards each week with 25% of recipients’ monthly funds, allowing the state to halt payments if the federal government reopens.

SNAP recipients receive payments on the first, fourth, or seventh day of each month. Through the new VENA system, recipients will get payments on each Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, meaning around one-third of recipients will get their first payment on Nov. 3, another third will receive the payment Nov. 5, and the last third will receive benefits on Nov. 7.

“Twelve-thousand people [in Henrico] are going to have to wait two more days to get a quarter of what they were going to get,” said Tuckahoe District supervisor Jody Rogish at a Henrico Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. “But the bigger concern is if the government is shut down for another few months, then we’re going to be back at this table.”

With news on the government shutdown constantly developing, Henrico has had to “improvise” a response to growing food insecurity in the community, Vithoulkas said at a Henrico Board of Supervisors meeting Oct. 28.

“We literally are improvising,” Vithoulkas said. “It’s a fluid situation. And quite frankly, without the state’s intervention last week, we would be in a much more difficult spot.”

In recent talks with Henrico, Richmond, Chesterfield, and Hanover, Feed More leaders said that meeting the local food demand in the Richmond region during the beginning of November, when SNAP benefits will be stalled, would require $500,000 in donations. Henrico, along with the $100,000 donation, has also pledged to help provide personnel if the organization needs more volunteers.

Feed More is already struggling to stock shelves, with donations down by 5% and demand up by 14% in the region, said Henrico’s Social Services director Gretchen Brown. The organization supports 31 food pantries in Henrico as well as food assistance for Henrico Schools and the Meals on Wheels program.

As the status of SNAP benefits changes “day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour,” many Henrico families are very fearful and uncertain, Brown said.

“It’s going to be scary for a little bit until we figure out what the need actually is. Our phone line is ringing off the hook today with people trying to figure out what’s going on,” she said. “So the key for us is to get the messaging ready without ensuing panic in the community.”

Some SNAP recipients purchase all of their food at the very beginning of the month and heavily rely on that first-of-the-month payment, Brown said, causing Henrico officials to worry that there will be a “great need” for food assistance in the first few days of November.

“Two days can be a long period of time, over a weekend when kids are not in school to receive nutrition assistance,” she said. “The concern we have is that many of our folks who are receiving SNAP benefits spend differently than a lot of us. Sometimes they’re spending all of their SNAP allotment in the beginning of the month and that’s how they structure their food.”

Since Feed More already has the existing infrastructure to distribute substantial food assistance in the county, as well as established connections with the communities they serve, donating money and personnel directly to the organization is the best way for Henrico to address the growing food need, said Brown.

“Feed More [tackles], at every level, the food scarcity issue in our community,” she said. “They have a comprehensive approach, so the logical and most effective use of our time and money and energy is to give that infrastructure the support that they need to step up that effort during the crisis.”

People do not need to verify that they are active SNAP recipients to receive assistance from Feed More. Henrico officials encourage people who can do so to donate to Feed More or help volunteer for the organization.

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.