Feb 10, 2023 · Written by Andy Kegley

Effective March 1st, 2,570 Wythe County, Virginia households, plus 16 million households around the country, lost emergency pandemic food stamp supplements.

As executive director for an organization tackling difficult conditions related to housing and hunger, I have a lot of worries on my mind. Topping my list right now for those HOPE, Inc. serves is the end of these emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits which have flowed for almost three years. SNAP of course is targeted for lower income households.

By February 16th the last of these emergency allotments were issued, meaning households who were receiving the maximum allowance are now seeing a cut of approximately $100 per month. Factor in inflation driving higher food costs, and some 700 more households are receiving SNAP benefits than were pre-pandemic. Local Department of Social Services workers say they’re averaging 35 new applications per week in a county of about 28,000 people.

This cut of $100 per month is consequential. Think about a disruption to your monthly living budget and how you go about living with any negative change. Losing that much money for necessities like food means only one thing — less food on the table or cutbacks on rent, prescriptions, or fuel.

Pre-pandemic, in January 2020, the average household received $104 per month in SNAP benefits; last month, three years later, the average SNAP benefit climbed to $266.

Now, some 2,570 Wythe County households are confronting this shortfall, and looking to Agape, HOPE’s Open Door Café, Feeding Southwest Virginia’s distributions, our HOPE Packs, and other sources to close the gap and meet household needs.

Think too about students — such as those at Wytheville Community College – and seniors. Seniors are experiencing a modest increase in Social Security, but students are confronting inflation pressures everywhere they turn without the safety nets in place for seniors.

If you are personally dealing with economic hardship, whether you’re in one of those households who lost supplemental benefits or not, you have some options for help:

  1. Visit Open Door Café for a chef-prepared lunch, Monday — Friday from 11 am — 2 pm. Everyone Eats Wythe us, regardless of a guests ability to pay.
  2. Visit Agape Food Pantry the second Saturday or fourth Thursday of each month. Some eligibility restrictions apply.
  3. Feeding Southwest Virginia’s Mobile Marketplace brings fresh, convenient, affordable food to various locations throughout our area, including HOPE, Inc.’s office every 1st Thursday of the month.
    Debit, credit, or SNAP/EBT payments are accepted.
  4. Virginia Career Works Centers offer a variety of job seeker tools and services to help under employed or unemployed workers secure employment as a means to greater economic self-sufficiency. Contact the local Wytheville office at 276–228–4051.

Donors, volunteers, organizations, businesses and community groups also have options to get involved and support their neighbors during this difficult transition.

  1. Eat lunch at Open Door Café and Pay It Forward — When guests visit Open Door Café, their meal has already been subsidized through the generosity of individuals, bodies of faith, foundation funders, and other supporters. Making a donation when you eat pays-it-forward so that the next guest can enjoy a wholesome, chef prepared meal.
  2. Support Open Door Cafe’s zero hunger mission by making a donation online or by mail. Every $8 gift sustainably funds one café meal.
  3. Become a core team volunteer at Open Door Café or join our legion of episodic community members and groups packing and delivering K-12 weekend meal packs. Call Mike at 276–250-1804 or tell us more.
  4. Host your own weekend meal pack food drive, similar to one a local elementary school recently hosted. Check out a sample registry list we’ve created.

In these situations, whether you are in need of help or looking to assist your neighbors, it can be hard to know where to begin. While there aren’t any perfect solutions and organizations like HOPE, Inc. strive to do more, reaching out and engaging in our mission, as a beneficiary, giver, or both, is a start. While I’ll still worry about how to best meet these needs, knowing others are reaching out helps lessen that burden.

Originally published at Feathers of HOPE on medium.com.