By Anne Blythe
Many in the food assistance world say they live by the adage “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
That’s what Amy Beros, president and chief executive officer of Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina told NC Health News after the federal government first started notifying anti-hunger organizations of pending cuts to the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
It’s also the attitude at Nourish Up, a food pantry network in Mecklenburg County with a core belief that “access to nutritious food is a fundamental human right.”
The news coming out of the federal government these days has been testing the mettle of food program administrators — especially as the U.S. Senate takes up cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that were narrowly approved late last month by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“We’re definitely planning for the worst in the sense that we can,” said Melissa Driver Beard, executive director of CORA, a Chatham County food assistance program that calculates it’s facing the loss of $313,788 in federal support. “There’s no amount of fundraising that we can do that’s going to make up for the funds we’ve lost. At some point we can’t accommodate everything.”
The North Carolina congressional delegation — 10 Republicans and three Democrats — broke along party lines on the early-morning May 22 vote for a wide-ranging budget bill that supports much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
Embedded in the 1,000-page bill are changes to the SNAP program, which provides vital food benefits that help more than 1.4 million North Carolina residents. The reforms require states to contribute more to the food assistance program while the federal government contributes less. States are also instructed to add work requirements for enrollees who are “able-bodied” with no dependents.
Under the existing structure, the federal government shares half the administrative costs for the program and covers the full costs of the food benefits. North Carolina received $2.8 billion in 2024 for the cost of SNAP benefits, according to the governor’s office.
“The things we’re monitoring now is what’s going to happen with SNAP and Medicaid,” Beard said.
‘Perilous budget decisions’
The federal budget, as approved by the U.S. House in the 215-214 vote, would cut nearly $700 billion in Medicaid funding over a decade — a program slash that would affect nearly 30 percent of the state’s population.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein issued a statement before the vote against the proposed SNAP cuts, saying it would force North Carolina to pay up to $700 million to continue benefits at the existing level “all so that the wealthiest Americans can receive bigger tax cuts.”
“If Congress goes forward with these plans, our state will be forced into perilous budget decisions — should North Carolinians lose access to food, or should we get rid of other essential services,” Stein said.
Critics have described SNAP and other government safety net programs as ones that foster dependency instead of helping people become independent, productive members of society.
But those who work in such programs counter that narrative, pointing out that many recipients are working more than one low-income job, or they are children, seniors or people with disabilities. After paying for the cost of housing, these recipients often have little left over for nutritious food, Eric Aft, the chief executive officer of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, wrote in a February post on the organization’s website.
Of the almost 13 percent of the state’s population that relies on SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps, four in five recipient families have children, seniors or adults with disabilities in them, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
For a federal administration whose Secretary of Health and Human Services says it’s his goal to “Make America Healthy Again,” advocates of food assistance programs see that goal as in contrast to the cuts that Congress is considering.
Poor nutrition and food insecurity can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, lethargy and struggles with psychological and behavioral health issues, research shows.
The 2023-24 State Action Plan for Nutrition Security points out that the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines “food security” as when all members of a household can access “enough food for an active, healthy life.”
More food-insecure households across the country had children than did not have children, according to the state plan.
“Research shows that SNAP improves health outcomes, reduces childhood poverty, and decreases health care costs,” according to recent talking points posted by DHHS. “A recent North Carolina study showed that older adults’ participation in SNAP was associated with fewer hospital and long-term care admissions and emergency department visits, and an estimated Medicaid cost-savings of $2,360 per person annually.”
Beyond individual benefits
The SNAP benefits, which average about $5.70 per person per day, help pay for groceries, which can free up money for other household necessities like utility bills, rent, medicine and even transportation. Often, SNAP benefits can help with the purchase of fresh food, which can be more nutritious and healthier than some of the processed foods that don’t cost as much. Many farmers markets across the state also accept SNAP.
Those benefits go a long way in rural North Carolina and the state’s small towns, where one in six residents have benefited from SNAP, compared with the one in nine residents in metro areas. The benefits also help support some 46,000 people in the state’s large veteran population.
The benefits of SNAP extend beyond the individuals and families to help stimulate the economy, too, advocates say. People’s purchases ripple out to farms, producers, local grocery stores and other retailers.
Stein outlined some of those concerns in a May 8 letter to North Carolina’s congressional delegation and to members of the House and Senate committees on agriculture.
Not only are SNAP benefits used at 9,200 retailers across the state, there were 169,000 new applications to the program in October after the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused unprecedented flooding in late September 2024, wreaking destruction in 25 western counties. By March of this year, 239,000 people there relied on SNAP, the governor wrote.
“Cuts to SNAP would undermine rural economies in particular and threaten the viability of local grocers in places where food access is already limited,” Stein said in the letter.
“SNAP is one of the most effective, efficient, and essential tools we have to fight poverty and hunger. It supports working families and bolsters rural economies,” Stein added.
New layer or unpredictability
Beros, head of the Food Bank of Eastern North Carolina, told NC Health News this week that her organization is used to some adjustments to federal funding, but the cuts under discussion will significantly affect people in need of nourishment.
Additionally, she’s worried about cuts that could shrink Medicaid in this state and about the news of the pending loss of the Healthy Opportunities Pilot — a fledgling program that received national acclaim after its 2022 launch.
“We know there’s changes with every administration,” Beros said this week. “Hunger shouldn’t be political. But unfortunately the decisions that lawmakers are making has made it political.”
Tina Postel is chief executive officer of Nourish Up, the food pantry network in Mecklenburg County that strives to provide help to the more than 200,000 people with food insecurity in their immediate area.
After proposed cuts to food assistance programs were revealed several months ago, Postel and others said, the uncertainty about available funds has added a layer of unpredictability to planning for nonprofits and other safety net organizations that often operate on lean budgets.
“I definitely feel like we are reeling and feeling whiplash,” Postel said. “I understand as a nonprofit executive trimming fat from a budget. We’re not serving lobster in our pantry.”
Nourish Up provides fresh foods and other nutritious groceries in the state’s second most populous county and offers groceries for people struggling with food insecurity.
“We’ve weathered recessions, we’ve weathered pandemics,” Postel said.
Now the organizations are dealing with the chaos created by uncertainty about government funding and cuts that are just one Congressional chamber away from becoming reality.
“Fortunately, I am surrounded by people every single day who believe food is a basic human right,” Postel said.
One of those people is Danielle Moore, chief operations officer at Nourish Up. In an interview with NC Health News, Moore explained the far-reaching impact of a 50 percent cut to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina in the Emergency Food Assistance Program, commonly referred to as TEFAP.
“A 50 percent reduction in TEFAP is about a million-dollar gap for us,” Moore said, which means fewer fruits, vegetables and frozen meats for the people who get sustenance from the network of food pantries. “Planning is difficult any time. We have been planning for the worst, being optimistic while also being realists.”
Fund drives can’t fill gap
In addition to the SNAP cuts, the House budget also proposes cuts and changes to Medicaid that will apply to many of the same populations that Nourish Up serves.
The cuts come at a time when many food banks and pantries are seeing an influx of people.
“Overall, our numbers are still at record highs,” Postel said.
Administrators at Nourish Up and at other food banks and pantries across the state have been urging people to get in touch with lawmakers to advocate for continued assistance.
Although many of the organizations are turning to philanthropists and private funders to help close the gap, Postel said, the hole might be too large to fully fill.
“We have asked our donors once again to dig deep,” Postel said. “But there’s not a fund drive in the world that can make up the gap that our government is creating.”
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