NEW MARKTET, Va. (WHSV) – Decisions out of Washington D.C. are beginning to impact some food assistance programs in the Shenandoah Valley. In New Market, Jon Henry General Store is just one place experiencing issues because of federal funding freeze threats and buyout offers to federal employees.
The store is known for its fresh, local produce and for giving back through community programs, like a monthly giveaway for free produce with the New Market 7th Day Adventist Church. Owner Jon Henry said the giveaway is possible because of federal funding and donations, but he’s going to have to start scaling back.
The federal funds used for the food assistance program comes from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) grant through the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Last week, the Trump administration released a memo instructing all federal agencies to pause federal grants and loans. It was rescinded less than 48 hours later, but people like Henry are still navigating uncertainty.
“We really don’t know if we can get repaid or not,” Henry said. “We kind of have to pull back our operations and the overall products we give out because we don’t know if we can actually pay for them yet.”
A pullback on operations would impact around 500 families served by Henry in Shenandoah County and Harrisonburg. Despite the rollback on the funding freeze, he said there has been no communication or clear answer on the funds. He said it’s partly because of the buyouts offered to federal workers.
“We don’t know if the staff at the department — the USDA — are still there or when they’ll be back in the office because we can’t get ahold of anyone,” Henry said. “You know, are we gonna be funded or not? It can put you out on the rope for 10s, or 20s of thousands of dollars.”
The LFPA program gave almost $2 million to Virginia farmers from October to December 2024 alone. Without grants for programs like Henry’s, food assistance programs will have to buy less — if anything — from local farmers, leading to a dip in farmers’ sales.
“It becomes a bit of a complication of like, ‘Wait, we might not be able to fund you, pay you or buy your produce this week. It’s not something we can coordinate well,” Henry said.
Despite a lower quantity of goods, the free produce giveaway will continue — at least for now. The next giveaway will be Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the 7th Day Adventist Academy in New Market.
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