Food insecurity is up 30% in the Kansas City region. Don’t let Congress gut SNAP | Opinion

I want to take a moment to share two important announcements readers may have missed last week. They tell us about hunger in our community and our country’s response to it.

Feeding America released its annual Map the Meal Gap report on May 15, and what it shows is troubling.

In the local area served by the Harvesters Community Food Network, which includes 26 counties in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, the number of people experiencing food insecurity jumped 30%, from 252,650 people to 329,290. That means 1 in 8 of our neighbors are unsure if they will be able to put food on the table tonight.

Even more alarming is the nearly 40% increase in food insecurity among children. 105,590 children in our community — 1 in 6 — will not have the food they need to play, learn and grow. When kids are fed, their futures are fueled.

Which brings me to the second announcement just two days later. On May 17, the House Agriculture Committee released its version of the farm bill, which cuts nearly $30 billion from a critical federal feeding program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

On the heels of a 30% rise in food insecurity, the House is proposing a massive cut to the most effective and efficient program we have to address food insecurity in this country.

While the House bill proposes limited improvements to several nutrition programs, the cuts to SNAP outweigh any of those investments and result in backward movement in our fight against hunger.

If you don’t know much about SNAP, you should know that the program really punches above its weight. It is one of the most efficient federal programs we have, providing nine meals for every one meal provided by a food bank.

And SNAP is efficient. Less than 5% of the federal SNAP budget goes toward administration, with 95% of funds going directly back into communities. Low-income families in every corner of America are able to buy food from the local grocery store and keep their families and their communities strong and productive.

The proposed SNAP cuts are achieved by limiting updates to the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan, which estimates the minimum cost of a frugal, nutritious diet for families. The SNAP benefit is based on the Thrifty Food Plan and continued updates are essential to ensure SNAP participants — two-thirds of whom are children, older adults, and people with disabilities — can afford the nutritious foods we all need to thrive. The average SNAP benefit is just $6 per person per day, and the value of that limited benefit will erode even more if adjustments aren’t made in the future.

These cuts to SNAP would create hardship for families experiencing food insecurity and increase pressure on our nation’s already strained food banks. Harvesters and our partner food pantries are deeply committed to feeding our vulnerable neighbors, but we are already struggling to meet the need. The charitable sector simply cannot absorb these cuts.

As the farm bill moves through the legislative process, we support a bill that will make strategic investments to help end hunger, without making harmful cuts and policy changes to SNAP or any of the other federal nutrition programs. We urge Congress to prioritize a robust, bipartisan bill to ensure that everyone in Kansas, Missouri and across the nation has access to nutritious food.

If you are concerned about the impact of these cuts on our country’s most vulnerable, please contact your representative and senators at 202-224-3121 or congress.gov/contact-us and let them know we need a strong bipartisan farm bill that supports both farmers and families.

And while we wait for a farm bill, I encourage you to continue to join us in our mission to feed those in need in our community today. Visit harvesters.org to discover all the ways you can engage in the movement to end hunger.

Brent Varzaly is board chair of Harvesters, a regional food bank serving northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri including Kansas City and Topeka.