UPDATED 11/5 Oh SNAP! Help Navigating the Food Benefits Pause
Find food access, donation and volunteer information for Shawnee, Douglas, Jackson and Jefferson counties and updates at https://www.uwkawvalley.org/ohsnap
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All progress we ever hope to make toward healthy and resilient communities has basic human needs at the core. Our communities, our state, and our entire country are currently strategizing to protect one of those basic needs: access to healthy and affordable food. We wanted to keep you informed of some work that has been happening in our communities in response to the likelihood that SNAP recipients will not receive their benefits on November 1 due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. Here are a few highlights from our entire service area. Please note, information is very fluid and likely to change, maybe even before this newsletter reaches your inbox. Watch our social media for ways to find food resources and ways to help. We'll also be gathering information and links on a dedicated web page coming soon.
Douglas County
- Just Food convened a meeting of partners on October 28. UWKV attended and lent our support to Just Food, Ballard, and LiveWell Douglas County. We have encouraged them to use KawValleyVolunteers.Org to recruit volunteers and will help amplify this coordinated campaign of community support.
Douglas County Food Partners Unite to Confront a Historic Food Crisis
A Community Standing Together
Douglas County food partners are joining forces to face a crisis in our community, and our nation, have not seen since the creation of SNAP decades ago. Together, we are developing a Douglas County Partner Pantry Fund through the Douglas County Community Foundation (DCCF). This fund will be used by Just Food, leveraging their purchasing power to buy food for every pantry in our county.
We acknowledge this truth together:
- This is a crisis our community should not have to bear — but we will, together. This is not just about the people using SNAP benefits, this is about our entire economy. Every dollar invested into SNAP has a $1.50 benefit to the local economy.
- Local nonprofits are stepping up in a unified fashion to serve our community in the most efficient, effective way possible while acknowledging that this cannot be a long-term solution.
- This $1 million loss in SNAP benefits now falls squarely on the shoulders of our community, on all of us, and that is not fair, nor is it sustainable. For every meal a food pantry provides, SNAP provides 9.
- The best and only sustainable solution is for SNAP to be funded as it was intended: to ensure children and families facing hunger are fed.
What We Are Doing — Together
Our local agencies are pooling monetary donations into the Douglas County Partner Pantry Fund at DCCF.
- Just Food will use its buying power to purchase and distribute food equitably to all Douglas County pantries.
- Volunteer opportunities will be coordinated through United Way of Kaw Valley, where community members can sign up to serve where help is most needed.
- In-kind donations (food, hygiene items, clothing) should continue to be delivered to the pantry or nonprofit you already support, those beautiful relationships matter. If you do not have an established relationship with a pantry, reach out to info@justfoodks.org and they can connect you to the resource nearest to you.
We need your support now more than ever — to keep our shelves stocked and our community fed through this unprecedented time. Because together, anything is possible. Let's get to work.
Shawnee County
- As part of a pre-existing conversation among local food pantries, UWKV and LiveWell Shawnee County co-convened a expanded gathering of more than 50 individuals October 30 at the Holliday Building in Topeka. The conversation included city government, local nonprofits, and representatives from the faith community. We facilitated conversation, asking them about greatest concerns, what they could lend to a collective effort, and who else needed to be included in the conversation. We will be part of a collaborative campaign of community support launching on November 1.
- See our OhSNAP introduction on Facebook
Thousands of Kansans are waking up today to the reality that their ability to afford food for themselves and their families has been either permanently or temporarily affected. For some, including 1,000 of our Shawnee County neighbors, new work requirements have pushed them completely out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). For even more, the suspension of payments amid the shutdown of the federal government means their November benefits are currently unavailable.
For now, our community is rallying in an attempt to keep our neighbors fed. In Shawnee County, this effort has a name: Oh SNAP! United, we can respond to help our friends, family and neighbors in this moment of uncertainty and need.
United Way of Kaw Valley is supporting the collaborative efforts of #OhSNAPsnco by highlighting food security volunteer opportunities on KawValleyVolunteers.org and by consolidating resource links at https://www.uwkawvalley.org/ohsnap. There you can find ways to Give Money, Give Food, and Give Time.
1. Give Money. Food pantries and food banks often have buying power that makes a dollar stretch further. And it gives them better control over their inventory, allowing them to adjust what they buy to meet immediate needs. Money also helps them pay for other things they need to operate. We have posted donation links to the organizations that feed people on our resource page.
2. Give Food. This one is obvious. Donating food now gets it to hungry people fast. In this moment, giving food AND giving money will help our food security partners address the need now, next week, and next month. In fact, make a plan to donate regularly, because the need is not going away even when this crisis eases.
3. Give Time. Food pantries, like most nonprofits, depend on volunteers to keep vital services running. And when need rises, those regular volunteers keep showing up and putting themselves at increased risk for compassion fatigue. New volunteers lighten the load and give you a new chance to connect to your community. Every hour you donate is worth more than $30! And you don't have to do it alone! Find some friends, family or coworkers and experience the benefits of volunteering together.
This situation is evolving rapidly, so bear with us as we work to post new information and keep existing information up to date. When in doubt, please call or email a food pantry or other partner to confirm hours and availability before travelling.
Special thanks to our partners at LiveWell Shawnee County and Create Uplift for the brilliant assist on materials for this effort. #UnitedIsTheWay
Jackson and Jefferson Counties
- We have a previous meeting scheduled in November with partners in Jackson County. We do not currently have partners doing work exclusively in Jefferson County. We are working to contact those doing the work in those communities to ensure we have updated information so we can list them, along with other resources from other counties, on our website (how to give money, food, and time).
