Due to the termination of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program went into effect Friday, reducing the amount of money low-income families around the country will receive to help pay for groceries. An estimated 8,000 Charlottesville residents will be affected.
According to the SNAP annual report on participating persons, SNAP activity in Virginia hit an all-time high last year, providing assistance to 913,878 state residents. Joron Moore-Planter, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Social Service, said in an email that the change in benefits will impact 458,000 households statewide.
The cuts come at a time when the country is still slowly recovering from the recession of 2009. Moore-Planter said the cuts will offer substantial savings for the federal government.
“Savings will be in the $3.4 [billion] range nationwide,” Moore-Planter said of the SNAP reductions. As a comparison, she said the Senate’s funding proposal for SNAP looks to cut “$4 [billion] over 10 years while the House version cuts $40 [billion] over 10 years.”
Michael McKee, chief executive officer for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, said the average family receiving SNAP benefits would notice the cuts.
“The SNAP cuts are expected to average $36 for a family of four [per month], or about a weekend’s worth of food,” McKee said in an email. “That’s a lot for a family living in or near poverty.”
Part of the concern accompanying the SNAP cuts is that local food banks will be overwhelmed.
“We’re already serving an average of 113,000 people each month through our network of community food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, and anticipate serving even more people as a result of the cuts to SNAP,” McKee said.
SNAP provided recommendations on its website for those dealing with the cuts, which include spending money efficiently.
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