By: Lydia Crawley
Many Tucker County families are about to feel the crunch come November 1st when SNAP food benefits are paused by the State of West Virginia in the midst of the ongoing Federal Government shutdown. The shutdown, which has been ongoing for over a month, has caused a ripple effect across a number of State and Federal agencies, with SNAP benefits being the latest casualty.
Director of Tucker County Office of Emergency Management Kevin White said that he has been in contact with all the local food pantries, organizations and churches in the County in preparation for the potential SNAP pause.
“We do realize that if the SNAP benefits are placed on hold, there are going to be people that are going to need assistance and it may outgrow what our current capabilities are,” White said.
White said that the he and the organizations have planned to meet next week to discuss viable options to make sure they are prepared and not duplicating efforts in an effort to streamline their capability to serve the public and don’t run out of resources too soon.
“We want to make sure we get as much out there to the people as we can without duplicating efforts,” White said.
White said that panic is anticipated at first from the public. He said that it is likely people will try to grab everything they can initially out of desperation and he said he doesn’t blame them for feeling that way.
“I don’t blame them, I understand,” White said. “You don’t want to think about you don’t have the necessities of food to sustain life. That’s not something that we even want to fathom.”
Without the needed resource that is SNAP, Tucker County families are tasked with finding alternative means to feed their families in the midst of this ongoing crisis. Below is a list of resources that Tucker County families can use to find food and assistance to help them through this tough time.
BLACKWATER MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION
315 BLACKWATER AVE, DAVIS, WV 26260
(304)866-2317 HOURS: Open Monthly — First week on Wednesday 2:00-4:30 p.m. Call for emergency
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH – PARSONS
101 FIRST STREET, PARSONS, WV 26287
(304)478-8602 HOURS: Open weekly on Thursday 1:00-2:30 p.m.–Also open, within reason, anytime for emergencies
TUCKER COUNTY SENIOR CITIZENS – PANTRY
217 SENIOR LANE, PARSONS, WV 26287
(304)478-2423 HOURS: Open Daily 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.–We ask that clients call at least 1 hour before picking up their food.
Mountaineer Food Bank also has a Mobile Food Pantry that travels to various locations throughout the State and will be in neighboring Counties, as well as Tucker County November 5th at the Tucker County Board of Education Office Building located at 100 Education Lane in Parsons. Distribution is from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. For additional locations for the Mobile Food Pantry, go to the Mountaineer Food Bank website at mountaineerfoodband.org.