5 days ago
Local programs brace for impact of potential SNAP reductions
JOPLIN, Mo. — The Missouri House prepares to vote on a federal budget resolution which could impact the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as 'SNAP.'
Back in April, the state proposed to delegate cuts to SNAP to aid the federal budget resolution.
According to the USDA, SNAP helps more than 650,000 people in Missouri, including about 300-thousand children, afford food.
Representatives with Joplin's Head Start program say about 80-percent of their families are eligible for SNAP benefits and 42-percent of them say 'they struggle to provide healthy meals each day.'
Local food bank workers say those numbers are causing a steady stream of traffic through their doors.
'At first it was just like a little trickle. But now we have more and more people coming in and it's definitely noticeable. We have probably a 10% increase about 10% to 15% of the amount of households that are coming in that need food assistance,' said Carrie Pence, Joplin Crosslines Ministries executive director.
'Even with all of the stuff that we are doing on the front line, we're still seeing a lot of food insecurity, so a cut to the SNAP benefits would strain and stretch an already taxed community support system that we're already relying on heavily,' said Kelly Creech, Head Start and Early Head Start family development coordinator.
Head Start and Early Head Start serve about 900 families a year, and Crosslines Ministries serve about 2,000 families each month to help lessen the gap of food insecurity.
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