While more than 800,000 Virginians await the resumption of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits, farmers and farmers markets are helping to keep food on their tables. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The aroma of grilling chicken quarters wafted through the cold air on Tuesday at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market. Fall harvests of beets, potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash lined the tables. All year round, government shutdown or no, the market participates in the Virginia Fresh Match program –
SARAH GOLIBART GORMAN: Where SNAP customers can come to the market and they can have their SNAP benefits doubled, up to $30 to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables.
Sarah Golibart Gorman is the marketing strategist here. When SNAP benefits were suspended at the end of October due to the federal government shutdown, Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency and set up the Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance program, or VENA.
At the beginning of November, that initiative distributed one quarter of the normal monthly amount that SNAP recipients get, with a plan to continue that distribution each week that the shutdown continues. Those VENA funds also double for fresh fruits and vegetables at participating markets. But based on a notice from the federal government that they would pay out some SNAP benefits this week, Youngkin paused the issuance of any more VENA money after that first payment.
GORMAN: We have seen a decline in the amount of folks coming to redeem their SNAP money at the market, just because, even though through VENA they get 25% each week, they have less money in their account. So people are being really conservative.
However, they do get an added bonus from the Fresh Match program this month – an extra $20 to spend at the market. And some farmers have gone above and beyond.
GORMAN: In early November, one of our vendors just offered a pay-what-you-will. … If you're a SNAP customer or not, just come, let us know what's going on, and we'll work with you to make sure that we can get you some good food on the table. … That's what the market's about. It's about community.
Another way the farmer's market has addressed food insecurity for years is their gleaning program. At the end of each market, employees and volunteers from local food pantries and nonprofits collect unsold produce, for free, from about 10 vendors. One of them is Curtis Yankey, the owner of North Mountain Produce in Timberville. He said the gleaners take good vegetables that would otherwise end up in the compost.
CURTIS YANKEY: I love being able to see a lot of it go to use. Because we plant so much to keep the market stocked, to have enough to sell, but for years, my compost pile was just so big, and I just hated seeing all of that go to waste, you know. It just feels good to feed people.
Another Fresh Match participant in the valley is Project GROWS, a nonprofit educational farm in Verona. They manage the Waynesboro Farmers Market and have a mobile market truck that sets up at 13 sites around Staunton, Augusta County, and Waynesboro.
MEGAN MARSHALL: We grow vegetables here at Project GROWS, but then we also source from at least 15 other producers in our area to supply additional vegetables that we're not growing, fruit, meat, eggs, cheese, milk, and even tofu.
Megan Marshall is their director of programs. The organization is using the November bonus from Fresh Match to sell food boxes worth $20 for just one dollar each for SNAP recipients.
MARSHALL: That program has been just a huge lifeline for a lot of families. We've had some people reaching out through Facebook, in a panic, trying to figure out how they can come get a box. One mom had two children, and she was just worried about how she was going to be able to feed her kids during the shutdown.
Emily Rooker is a Staunton resident with a son who started high school this fall. She said being able to double the amount of fresh fruits and veggies she gets allows her to be smart with her SNAP funds.
EMILY ROOKER: We get our potatoes, our broccoli, all of our fresh veggies come from either Project GROWS or the farmers at the farmers market. … It enables me to be able to buy the way that I would like to buy, which is really fresh and local.
Rooker said she started receiving SNAP after being put on disability for a traumatic brain injury.
ROOKER: I'm able to use my SNAP benefits for food. That way, that money that would have been spent on food, I can then afford my apartment.
She said she normally receives those funds on the first of every month.
ROOKER: There were no food stamps on the first. On the third or fourth, I got one-fourth of the amount that I typically get … and a text that said 'you will probably get one-fourth once a week through November.' … There has been no second distribution.
On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Social Services posted an update online, saying that based on new federal guidance, the agency expected 65% of normal monthly SNAP benefits to be distributed by this Thursday. Rooker got the same message in a text, and checked her card again Tuesday afternoon – still empty.
ROOKER: I'm not the only family who has zero dollars for food as of today.
She said farmers, food pantries, and friends in her local community are working hard to prevent people from going hungry.
ROOKER: It's a bit uncomfortable to say, "I'm in poverty. I don't have enough money for food," but, I'm also, I'm a grownup and I've got a kid, and I'm willing to do that. … Some friends gave me a ham yesterday and some canned tomatoes that they had canned.
The House of Representatives could vote on legislation to reopen the government on Wednesday afternoon.
