Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Obesity and Food Policy at the University of Connecticut. “Maybe Georgia has really jumped the gun,” she said.Įarlier this spring, the General Assembly passed an omnibus mental health reform bill aimed at turning around the state’s dismal mental health outcomes.īut without an adequate supply of nutritious food, it could be hard to address the mental health issues facing the state, said Dr. Roe said she isn’t convinced the pandemic is over, noting she lost several family members to COVID and has recently noticed longer lines at the Urgent Care she passes on her way home from work. “If it comes down to that, we’ll eat lots of sandwiches.” “We’ll do the best we can” when the food aid decreases next month, said Roe. Roe estimated the amount of food funds her family received increased by about $600, enough to cover almost all of the family’s monthly food costs. “Getting the maximum benefit amount of SNAP really, really helped us be able to get things caught up and try to stay ahead of the game,” Roe said about the increased food benefit amounts. She works at a shoe store, and her husband is a mechanic. Most people who need food assistance, whether from food pantries or food stamps, work, Waide said.īrandy Roe is one such hard-working Georgian concerned about the upcoming cuts in her food stamp benefits. … Everybody we work with believes that everybody should have enough food.” … We work closely with partners in Washington on both sides of the political spectrum. “The state made its decision for a variety of reasons, not just because they didn’t want to extend benefits, but there are other factors that went into that decision.” “It was our preference that we find ways to extend the expanded, enhanced SNAP benefits in Georgia,” Waide said. The organization is paying more for food and its vehicle costs are up, mostly due to higher fuel prices. “Our costs are higher at a time when demand is increasing,” said Kyle Waide, the food bank’s president and CEO. Though food demand is below its initial peak during the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and the first half of 2021, the Atlanta Community Food Bank is still distributing 30% to 35% more food than it did pre-pandemic. “This is going to cause a lot of additional strain for individuals and families,” said Ife Finch Floyd, a senior economic justice policy analyst with the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute in Atlanta. “That may mean you’re buying less food because your other sources of income, your cash, might have to go to other things: rent, utilities, gas.”įood banks across the state are gearing up for increased demand while also dealing with rising costs of food and fuel prices. “That economic boost is going to be lost,” said Vollinger. State food stamp recipients were receiving close to a total of $119 million each month in the extra pandemic funding, according to Georgia’s latest filing with the federal agency that runs the program. “It’s going to hit different households somewhat differently, but it’s going to hit them all and it’s going to them hard,” she said. Georgia can expect “a very abrupt hunger cliff,” said Ellen Vollinger, SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center, an advocacy group in Washington. The decrease in food stamps – also called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP – comes at a time of rising food costs. Some families received much more.īut in June, food benefit calculations will return to the pre-COVID method that is tied to a family’s size, income, and expenses, Winton said. Brian Kemp’s decision not to renew Georgia’s COVID emergency declaration in mid-April triggered the end of the federal program that provided extra food aid to almost 777,000 Georgians each month.Įach household received, at the very least, an additional $95 per month, said Kylie Winton, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, which oversees the food stamp program in Georgia. That’s because increased food stamp amounts were tied to Georgia’s COVID emergency. (Photo credit: Atlanta Community Food Bank)ĪTLANTA – Georgians who rely on food stamps are set to see a steep decrease in the amount of money they receive each month starting in June. The Atlanta Community Food Bank is gearing up for increased food demand this summer.
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