Food banks across the country are bracing for increased demand as new work and paperwork requirements are set to take effect for recipients of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Ashley Jackson has been executive director of the Food Pantry for Woodford County since last December. She says expansion plans were made months before the new SNAP requirements.
“It'll be an addition to the building. It'll be connected to the building, and will have spaces for up to five freezers, is what we've spaced out and measured, and then even some uprights that can be converted from a refrigerator to a freezer.”
The Food Pantry for Woodford County is one of more than 500 affiliated with God’s Pantry in Lexington. According to a God’s Pantry spokesperson, nearly one in five people in central and eastern Kentucky is food-insecure – and one in four children. Ashley Jackson says the Food Bank of Woodford County serves between 400 and 500 families each month.
“Since May, we've actually had around 30 new clients every month added to our roster of clients that we serve monthly. So our average was before that, around 189 people, but now it's went up to about 214 and that's just head of household.”
Jackson says the add-on should be full of food by Thanksgiving. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the “Big Beautiful Bill” approved by Congress will cut about $186 billion in funding for SNAP – formerly known as food stamps – through 2034.
Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman recently proclaimed September as Hunger Action Month in Kentucky at a God’s Pantry food bank in Lexington.
