Stafford County Supervisor Monica Gary thought back to when she was 18, had become a mother at 17 and was getting public assistance in the form of food stamps and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.
She was at the store, trying to buy formula, she recalled Tuesday night. Her son was crying, and she needed help with her WIC purchase. But the store manager was no help.
He said it wasn’t his problem.
But that’s not the attitude the Stafford Board of Supervisors should have right now, said Gary, when neighbors are struggling financially because of the federal government shutdown.
“We need to take care of each other,” said Gary, who represents the Aquia District.
In that vein, the supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to provide up to $65,000 from the county’s rainy-day fund to the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, which is seeing more demand for food lately. The amount was based on Stafford’s percentage of federal food-assistance recipients and the county’s percentage of residents who were assisted by the food bank in the last fiscal year.
Before the vote, board Chairman Deuntay Diggs noted that he also had to make use of government services when he was in the foster care system as a child.
He said he attended a community meeting recently where there were highly paid government workers. Those workers were seeing things in a different light now that they’re the ones asking for help.
“We never know when we’re going to be in somebody else’s shoes,” Diggs said, “so kindness, compassion goes a very long way.”
Ten miles to the south, Fredericksburg’s City Council also voted unanimously to appropriate funds Tuesday night following a presentation from the city’s Department of Social Services Director Christen Gallik and brief comments from Food Bank CEO/President Dan Maher. The city’s pledge could total up to $55,640, with half of the amount to be disbursed immediately and the other half if the government shutdown continues beyond Nov. 14.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Maher said that the funds contributed by the two localities equate to an additional tractor-trailer full of food each week that the shutdown continues, as well as covering overtime for staff and wages for temporary drivers needed for extra distributions.
“It’s a modest investment, said Maher, “but it’s as much as we can ask to piece together a local response; no one entity could keep people whole. It’s sad that it’s come to this, but it’s exciting that our community is recognizing that this requires a local response to keep people somewhat whole.”
As a gesture of gratitude, Maher said that the Food Bank will hold an additional distribution each week in the localities that stepped up with contributions.
“We’re regional, but we do want to thank jurisdictions for investing in the community response,” he said.
The local actions follow a declaration of emergency by Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this week. On Tuesday, Youngkin outlined plans for the state to step in and administer funds amid the federal government stoppage.
The Virginia Mercury reports that a new program, Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA), is expected to send money to SNAP beneficiaries’ Electronic Benefit Transfer cards starting on Nov. 3. Approximately 850,000 Virginians receive SNAP.
VENA will administer funds on a weekly basis, Youngkin said, compared to SNAP, which allots a month’s worth of benefits at a time.
