Commissioner T.C. Rogers suggested giving the money to Shared Harvest, which supplies food to roughly 32 small food pantries countywide — as a way to help. His fellow commissioners agreed.
“There’s no way that we can replace that amount,” Rogers said referring to the entire federal SNAP allocations and suggested the $125,000 donation. “I know it’s not enough but I think we could do it.”
The county Job and Family Services Department — which is the local arm of the state in administering the federal programs — doesn’t directly pay public assistance for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. That money comes directly from the federal government. So far this year 36,797 residents have received $66.4 million in SNAP benefits. Last year, 36,976 people received $91.7 million.
The federal program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries. Shannon Glendon, director of the county JFS Department, said the average individual receives about $200 and families with at least one child get about $600 monthly.
County Administrator Judi Boyko said “not everyone is losing benefits in this first week” because the payments are staggered. Around 6,500 households lost access to funds Saturday, another 11,000 will be impacted beginning Nov. 8.
Terry Perdue, executive director of Shared Harvest, told the Journal-News he was very grateful the commissioners made the donation, especially without being asked. It will buy about two truckloads of food. In addition to Butler County, they distribute roughly 20 truckloads of food per month to Darke, Miami, Preble and Warren counties.
They are not equipped to to be a SNAP back-up for long.
“The food pantries were ever designed to carry the weight of what SNAP can do,” Perdue said. “And we are facing insurmountable odds against us, we cannot supply all the food that SNAP provided. If this shutdown persists we will completely deplete our resources.”
When it became evident late last week the federal government wasn’t going to rescue SNAP, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order giving $7 million to various Ohio food banks and up to $18 million in emergency relief benefits through the Ohio Works First Program to more than 63,000 Ohioans who are at or below 50% of the federal poverty level.
“While it is no substitute for the relief Senate Democrats could provide today,” DeWine said on Friday. “This funding will help get more resources into the household budgets of the Ohio families who need it most.”
It is unclear how much of that money will flow to Butler County but Boyko said around 1,100 families here are eligible for the Ohio Works Fist Program and could receive cash assistance.
In recent days two federal judges ordered the federal government to use contingency funding to restart the SNAP program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service issued guidance to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Tuesday that they will be reducing benefits by 50%.
“ODJFS is working with its vendors to determine updated benefit amounts for current SNAP recipients and when benefits will be available,” a news release stated. “Once that review is complete, ODJFS will notify SNAP recipients regarding when they will receive their partial November benefits and the recalculated amount under the new federal guidance.”
According to the Associated Press, SNAP costs more than $8 billion per month nationally. The government says an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion — enough to cover about half the normal benefits.
Glendon said they have been gearing up for this crisis since July, working with all the various agencies who provide assistance to make sure they were prepared, and making sure their staff provide valuable assistance not just notification.
“Not just telling them that benefits could be impacted but where they can go for help,” she said. “And we’re going to continue to do that until this is resolved.”
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