Officials: Henrico SNAP recipients will get 90% of usual benefits in November

With the government shutdown now over, Henrico residents who rely on federal food assistance will likely see 90% of their usual benefits this month, county officials said Nov. 12.

Last week, the newly-created Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance program used state funds to distribute benefits to Virginia’s 850,000 recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. But VENA only supplied 25% of each recipient’s typical monthly allocation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that SNAP recipients will see another 65% of their monthly benefits distributed on Nov. 13, meaning that recipients in Virginia will likely see about 90% of their usual benefits for the month of November.

A total of 37,284 Henrico residents rely on SNAP benefits each month. Since Nov. 1, when SNAP benefits were halted, food shelters across Henrico have confronted a much larger food need from the community, as well as uncertainties about what will happen in the near future.

President Donald Trump’s signing of a funding bill on Tuesday night officially ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, and will hopefully mean that SNAP benefits will be distributed normally by December, said Rob Rowley, Henrico’s Chief of Emergency Management. 

But that does not mean that the surging food need in the county will suddenly disappear, he said, as many families will likely need another month to regain stability.

“The ebb and flow of households getting their groceries has been knocked off balance,” Rowley said. “So we anticipate that a lot of homes will have not gotten back to normal yet with their food needs for about a month or so.”

Feed More, Central Virginia’s main food distribution organization, is poised to meet that need over the next month, Rowley said. The organization, which supports 31 food pantries across Henrico, has increased efforts over the past two weeks through many donations from individuals and localities, including a $100,000 donation from Henrico County.

“With the increase in need that’s been there, Feed More is addressing it quite well,” Rowley said. “They have really good volunteer networks that they’ve been able to lean into. I mean, they’ve really been knocking it out of the park.”

Rowley encouraged Henrico residents who are able to donate to continue supporting Feed More over the next month.

“It’s a wonky time and there are a lot of unknowns,” he said. “The answer is simple: give to Feed More.”

Feed More accepts any donations, whether it be food or monetary gifts. But the organization prefers monetary donations because it usually buys products in bulk, Rowley said.

“However you want to give, give. But if you’re someone who’s like, ‘I’ve got $5 and could buy $5 of food and give it to Feed More, or I could give them my $5,” you should just give them your $5,” he said. “Whatever you give is appreciated, but they can go out and make your $5 into $7.”

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.