SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – God’s Pantry Food Bank partners with more than 500 food banks in central and eastern Kentucky.
The organization helps to provide food to more than 280,000 people facing food insecurity.
President and CEO Michael Halligan said the looming cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are at the forefront of the nonprofit.
“If SNAP were to be reduced, a food bank cannot cover it. We do not have the capacity or the financial wherewithal to do so,” Halligan said.
One of God’s Pantry Food Bank’s partners is Scott County-based Amen House.
Executive Director Michele Carlisle said more than 50 percent of food-insecure families in the county do not qualify for SNAP.
“When you take those working families who are living right there on the edge of poverty but above it, so they’re not receiving government assistance and then you do something like the increase of food prices, it changes the complete dynamic in their home,” Carlisle said.
Carlisle said their position differs from many nonprofits because they do not solely rely on federal funding. She tells me two-thirds of the Amen House’s funding comes from a combination of community donations and revenue from their thrift store.
“A third of our food comes from the federal government, and it is my understanding that our budget is funded through September, and then I don’t know what lies ahead,” Carlisle said.
She said the Amen House experienced a pause in one of its federal grants earlier this year. She said morale was low in the two days they waited to hear about the community development block grant.
“Very quickly it was reopened and we were able to finish building our building but in those days and I know not every other non-profit was as lucky,” Carlisle said.
The Amen House was not as lucky when it came to another federal grant it received last summer. Carlisle said the Local Food Purchase Assistance grant provided by the USDA is one that it lost this summer.
“We have already seen funding slipping away. By this time last summer, that beautiful LFPA grant would’ve been putting fresh produce into this pantry. Fresh whole foods are critical,” Carlisle said.
One program the Amen House provides that is federally funded is the Sun Meals program.
It feeds students from newborn to 18 years old for free during the summer months.
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