By getting involved with Feeding Kentucky — the organization supporting Kentucky’s seven Feeding America member food banks — you can make a tangible impact in the lives of Kentuckians facing food insecurity.. You can find ways to volunteer, make a monetary donation, or even work with our Farms to Food Banks program to donate Kentucky-grown agriculture products and provide our neighbors with fresh, nutritious food.
But Feeding Kentucky alone cannot solve the hunger crisis in our state.
At this very moment, there are an estimated 570,000 food-insecure Kentuckians, and 1 in 8 people across our commonwealth facing hunger every day. One in 6 children in our state do not know where their next meal is coming from.
Feeding Kentucky’s food banks feed 1 in 7 Kentuckians in all 120 counties. Food insecurity may seem like a far-away, invisible issue, but it is right in our backyard and impacting our neighbors.
Legislation has recently been introduced in Kentucky’s General Assembly that would hurt Kentuckians who face the challenge of feeding themselves and their families and make it even harder for food banks to support them.
House Bill 367 would strip tens of thousands of Kentuckians of their SNAP benefits by implementing an “asset test,” and stripping benefits for those with a certain amount of assets. These Kentuckians would be forced to turn to food banks instead.
If HB 367 were to be approved by the General Assembly, it would put further strain on our food banks which are already in a critical situation due to low funding and lack of donations.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program helps low-income individuals pay for food. Nearly 587,885 Kentucky residents receive SNAP benefits. For every ONE meal that a food bank provides an individual, SNAP benefits provide NINE meals. If HB 367 were to pass, food banks would need to receive millions more in funding in a small window of time to support the hungry Kentuckians without benefits.
Not only would the bill impact vulnerable adults, but it could also take away school lunches for many kids across our state who face hunger.
The Community Eligibility Provision reimburses schools for providing free meals to students, with the reimbursement based on the percentage of the school’s students using programs like SNAP. Thanks to this program, 612,000 students in Kentucky can eat free school lunches who may otherwise spend the entire school day hungry.
These kids would miss out on food at home thanks to SNAP and food in the cafeteria from CEP.
On Feb. 22, state Rep. Samara Heavrin spoke out in support of this legislation and urged opponents of the bill to “put their money where their mouth is” and support Feeding Kentucky by volunteering at a food pantry, as she does.
We commend her for her work at her local food pantry. However, we are disappointed by her support of HB 367. We are even more disappointed that she used our name and mission to criticize our allies in combating hunger.
While we are sure that she is just as passionate about feeding hungry Kentuckians as Feeding Kentucky and our food banks, we urge her and her peers to say no to a bill that would not support this work or dismantle a system in existence to help the most vulnerable.
Food banks cannot do all of the heavy lifting in solving the hunger crisis. We need our elected officials to see our programs as safety nets, not handouts.
The bill would make it even more difficult for our food banks to help serve those battling hunger, reducing the positive, life-changing impact we can make.
We can’t do this important work alone.
The health of our neighbors is at risk, and we must urge the legislature to vote NO on HB 367.
For more information about Feeding Kentucky and how you can support hungry Kentuckians through donations or volunteering, please visit feedingky.org.
Editor’s note: The House passed HB 367 by a vote of 61-33, on Feb. 22. It is pending in a Senate committee.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Melissa McDonald serves as executive director of Feeding Kentucky, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a partner state association of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.
