Vermont Food Bank urges $2 million for food shelves and warns SNAP changes could cut federal food dollars

Carrie Sailor, government public affairs officer for the Vermont Food Bank, asked the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee on April 9 to consider a set of food-security budget requests that the food-security coalition has prioritized.

Sailor said Vermont Feeding Vermonters — the farm-to-charitable-food program — was not funded in the governor’s recommended budget but the House included $400,000. "With the full funding of $2 million, we can support about 300 farms across the state," she said, noting the program purchases food from Vermont farms and routes dollars into farm businesses.

She also requested $2 million to support the network of food shelves and meal sites so local organizations can keep shelves stocked, provide home delivery and offer culturally appropriate items. "There has been just a continuing increasing trend toward people needing more food assistance from free sources like food shelves and meal sites," Sailor said.

On federal nutrition programs, Sailor told the committee that Three Squares Vermont (SNAP) currently serves roughly 60,000–65,000 people each month and brings about $12 million per month of federal benefits into state retailers. She warned that recent federal and programmatic changes have made eligibility and retention harder and said the federal government has shifted some administrative costs to the state. "Part of our request is to support money that is already in the governor's recommended budget that fulfills the state's requirement to pay for additional administrative costs the federal government has shifted to the state," she said.

The Food Bank also asked for funding for benefit assisters — staff who help people fill out SNAP or Medicaid paperwork — and for funding to expand capacity for home-delivery and culturally specific food needs. Sailor estimated as many as 90,000 Vermonters may be income-eligible for Three Squares but not enrolled.

Committee members asked about overlap with other committees and whether food-security work should be base-budgeted rather than paid from onetime dollars; Sailor and members discussed avenues for allocating funding across Appropriations, Government Operations and Health & Welfare and said the coalition would pursue both base-budget and one-time options.

The committee did not take a vote. Members said they would continue the budget and priority discussions in subsequent sessions.