This article is brought to you by Freedom Financial.
On July 4, the President signed the biggest cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid in a generation. The budget reconciliation bill will take food and health care from millions of children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities in Indiana and across the country.
At a time when food insecurity is rising nationwide and the cost of food and health care remains high, this legislation will worsen the crisis. Food Finders is deeply concerned that these cuts will eliminate the equivalent of around 6 billion meals each year and strip health care coverage from at least 8 million people.
For context, the entire Feeding America network, of which Food Finders is a part of, including more than 200 food banks and 60,000 faith-based and charitable partners, distributed nearly 6 billion meals last year. These cuts will increase challenges for people facing hunger who are doing everything they can to get by and place even greater pressure on food banks and meal programs responding to the growing need.
“We know that good policies can reduce hunger and improve health,” said Kier Crites Muller, Food Finders’ president/CEO. “But this legislation is a significant setback for people and communities already facing barriers to accessing the food and resources they need to thrive.
“With the sustained high cost of food and health care, this is not the time to scale back essential programs that help families stay afloat. People in Food Finders’ 16-county service area work hard every day to build better lives, but they need a strong foundation to succeed. Access to food and health care is that foundation.”
Food Finders will work with federal and state lawmakers to find ways to support neighbors facing hunger who will be impacted by this bill in the coming months and years. Its goal is to ensure that it has the necessary resources to continue to provide the families it serves with the nutritious food they need to learn, work, and thrive.
For the children, seniors, veterans and families Food Finders serves, these programs are more than budget line items -- they are lifelines. Now more than ever, lawmakers and everyone in the community need to understand what’s at stake and work together to strengthen the foundation that helps families in the community thrive.
Food Finders will hold a mobile food pantry in Howard County today, July 17, beginning at 10 a.m. at New Life Church, 1803 E. Vaile Ave. This pantry is sponsored by the Community Foundation serving Howard, Clinton & Carroll Counties.