On Saturday, more than 800,000 Virginians began to lose out on benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — a byproduct of the federal government shutdown.
Complicating the issue is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture this spring cut funding and canceled delivery of millions of pounds of food to food banks across the country — including to Virginia.
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is one of seven regional food banks in the commonwealth and helps distribute necessities to more than 170,000 people each month in and around Central Virginia. Like other food banks in the state, the nonprofit didn’t receive a range of products it expected to get earlier this year through The Emergency Food Assistance Program.
It’s mainly sources of protein that weren’t delivered between May and August, according to data obtained by ProPublica. And for The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, that included 38,000 pounds of chicken legs and 1,500 dozen eggs.
Greg Knight, the nonprofit’s senior director of food sourcing and programming, said protein’s one of the most expensive items to buy.
“I've been buying meat to shore things up, but it stresses that budget in a way that we don't plan for because typically we don't buy that frozen protein,” he said Tuesday. “So then, when we have orders like this that are canceled, it's a hit.”
The loss of those deliveries compounds federal food benefits being unavailable as a result of the government shutdown.
Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that the commonwealth will temporarily fund SNAP benefits on a week-to-week basis, calling the initiative Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance. Distribution of those benefits is expected to begin Monday, Nov. 3 and will be funded with a portion of the state's budget surplus.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.