‘I’m very scared’ – SNAP benefits delay worries for older West Virginians who use it to support themselves and their grandchildren

With SNAP benefits delayed due to the federal government shutdown, many who rely on food assistance – half of whom are elderly or disabled – need additional aid from food banks. (Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)

When Casey Russell visited her pantry in Clarksburg on Tuesday, items were already running low. Not receiving the normal amount of food such as fresh meat and canned goods, she relies on it to support three grandchildren and a great-grandchild, whom she raises full-time.

She also depends on it The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is benefiting, but the money for food won’t be behind schedule this month due to the federal government shutdown.

“I’m very scared,” said Russell, 55, who adopted the four children in 2021. “I’m just going to try to go to different pantries when I can. It’s hard for me because I don’t drive, so I have to get a ride. Maybe that’s why I can’t pay some bills to buy groceries, you know?”

Um 270,000 – or one in six – West Virginia residents use SNAP benefits, including people age 60 and older qualify for the federal food stamp program.

Half of all SNAP households in the state have a disabled or elderly member – a higher rate than the national average.

“I think it’s going to impact a lot of our seniors hard,” said Beth Fitzgerald, executive director of the Harrison County Senior Center.

The West Virginia Department of Human Services posted on social media that delays in the provision of SNAP benefits are expected in October.

Asked whether the state could cover the cost of SNAP benefits, Drew Galang, spokesman for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, said West Virginia and other states do not have the money to cover the costs of the federal program. He blamed Senate Democrats for the “Schumer shutdown.”

“The solution is simple: Senate Democrats can vote for a clean vote [continuing resolution] — the same one they voted to pass 13 times under Joe Biden — at any time to reopen the government and prevent further delays in SNAP benefits,” Galang wrote in an email.

He then encouraged residents to utilize Family Resource Network centers and food distribution sites and to contact their caseworker for aid finding resources. On Thursday, Morrisey said he would provide food pantries with money that lawmakers approved earlier this year. No recent state funding has been appropriated for food pantries at this time.

In Harrison County, Fitzgerald said increased food prices have affected the senior center’s ability to keep its food shelves full. Seniors rely on the pantry and their food boxes because SNAP already does not cover their monthly food needs.

“We will likely see an increase in people coming to the pantry to eat,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t know if we can meet the demand.”

Many grandparents in West Virginia are raising their grandchildren

West Virginia has a vast number of grandparents raising their grandchildren; This is largely due to the state’s drug epidemic.

More than 100,000 SNAP recipients in West Virginia are children.

C. Sergent, 58, has custody of two grandchildren, ages 2 and 15. The children receive SNAP benefits.

“I don’t know how I’m going to feed my family,” she said. “Because we already have problems, and this is going to make it worse. The entire Senate and all these people in Washington don’t understand.”

Hanna Thurman is the CEO of The Healthy extended families Program, a free program at West Virginia State University that provides information and resources to grandparents raising grandchildren. The organization does not collect information about who uses SNAP.

“Grandparents already have a fixed income and often face food insecurity,” Thurman said. “That just makes it even more difficult to make the choices they have to make between food, medicine and utilities.”

She also noted that many grandparents they work with don’t have a car to pick up food in person.

Bobbi Holland, board member of Meals on Wheels Inc. of Charleston, said the organization serves about 50 people in the city and is at capacity. She expects that because of the delay in SNAP benefits, she may receive calls from other people, but the organization can no longer accommodate many people.

“We would like to do more, but we are having a hard time finding volunteers,” Holland said. “We’ve been doing this for over 50 years, but it’s getting harder and harder.”

The delay in SNAP benefits is expected to continue into November

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, said On Thursday she announced that she does not believe the government shutdown will end by November 1st.

According to the Department of Human Services, the delay in SNAP benefits will most likely extend into next month.

Capito told MetroNews earlier this week that Republicans are willing to negotiate with Democrats on health insurance premiums, but not while the government is “held hostage.” Democrats want “guaranteed results,” which is an unreasonable demand, she said.

She added that people no longer receiving SNAP and other federal benefits may be the “pressure point” needed to open the government.

“In some ways it’s sad that it has to come to this, but in some ways we need to have something that will burst the bubble and this could be it,” Capito said.

At issue are subsidies intended to aid thousands of West Virginians afford health insurance that would expire at the end of the year if Congress does not extend it.

Democrats say they won’t vote to reopen the government until Republicans join them in voting to extend tax credits that Americans use to buy health care.

According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, the 67,000 West Virginians who purchase insurance through the marketplace would see their premiums boost by an average of 133%, or $1,400 per year, if the subsidies were not extended. According to the Center on Budget and Policy, about 15,000 West Virginians would lose their health care because they can no longer afford it.

The McDowell County Commission on Aging, which serves seniors in the state’s poorest county, is preparing for possible increased needs due to the delay in SNAP benefits, according to Executive Director Donald Reed.

They’ve already seen an boost in the number of seniors eating at the center recently due to food prices, he said. The center provides free heated meals to more than 200 seniors on weekdays.

“If these benefits don’t take hold, we’ll be prepared to feed the additional people who show up,” Reed said.