Dr. Joshua Lohnes, Research Professor of Geography at WVU, will be showcasing his research on SNAP alongside speakers, including CHEF Carlos Thomas, Director of Feed the Hood PA; Cynthia Kirkhart, Executive Director of Facing Hunger Food Bank; Joanna Vance, Recovery Fellow at the American Friends Service Committee-WV Economic Justice Program; Bren Martin, member of Bread for the World; and Violet Affleck, Farm Bill Organizer for ReImagine Appalachia. The online conference, titled 'Food at the Foundation: Addressing Appalachia's Need for Effective Food Assistance,' will take place on Thursday, August 17th at noon ET.
Join the webinar on Thursday, August 17th at noon ET to learn why the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP – also known as food assistance- is so important to Appalachian communities, and how to advocate for a stronger SNAP program for Appalachia in the upcoming Farm Bill. We need to build an economy that respects working people—that means improving access to food benefits. Making it easier for families to access food assistance allows people to work, take care of their families, and contribute to their communities.
Boosts to SNAP kept millions of people out of poverty during Covid, but those supplements ended on March 1st. More than a quarter of rural Appalachian families with children rely on this life-saving and family-sustaining food benefits program.
Congress is currently debating the Farm Bill, a huge omnibus bundle of legislation that affects everything from farming to flooding to food aid. The message to Congress needs to be: no more hits to hungry people.