Guest columnist: Feeding Kentucky’s retrospective on the shutdown – State-Journal

Guest columnist: Feeding Kentucky’s retrospective on the shutdown

Published 12:00 am Monday, December 8, 2025

If Kentucky relied on its food banks alone, our feeding ecosystem would collapse in a week. That’s not a hyperbole, it’s simple math. Even the strongest food distribution network in the state can cover only a fraction of what the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides every month.

We talk a lot about the generosity of Kentuckians, especially in times of crisis. However, we need to start talking about scale. Feeding Kentucky’s seven food banks make up the commonwealth’s largest charitable response to hunger. And the truth is simple: our food banks were built to support, not replace, a federal nutrition program that provides nine times more meals.

Every day, our distribution sites move mountains of food, millions of pounds each month, to keep families from going without. That work is powered by donors, volunteers, and partners who step up when a crisis hits.

The 43-day federal shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, was an unplanned stress test of our hunger infrastructure, and the lesson was clear: when SNAP goes unfunded, families face hardship immediately and the strain on food banks becomes unsustainable.

This summer, Congress passed House Resolution 1, which includes long-term changes to SNAP’s funding model and adjusts how states share administrative costs.

Kentucky’s specific cost share will be announced in the coming weeks, giving the General Assembly the chance to plan in the next budget session. With thoughtful preparation, the state can ensure continued support for the 645,000 Kentuckians who rely on SNAP, helping stabilize families and strengthen our workforce.

According to Map the Meal Gap, more than 750,000 Kentuckians experience food insecurity, one in five children and one in eight seniors among them. These are not numbers. They are employees, students, parents, caregivers, and retirees.

And this is where the conversation must get honest: SNAP is not just a nutrition program. It is also an economic and workforce engine.

More than 95% of people who use SNAP are working, retired, or disabled. SNAP keeps families stable so adults can stay in the workforce. It helps seniors raising grandchildren keep food on the table. It helps small businesses retain reliable employees by reducing turnover. It supports Kentuckians who can no longer meet the physical demands of work. And it ensures students are fed, improving attendance, behavior, and long-term workforce readiness. We cannot build tomorrow’s workforce on empty stomachs.

These economic truths underscore the central point, that charity cannot replace the scale or the stabilizing power of SNAP.

Feeding Kentucky’s network provided about 63 million meals last year. That’s a remarkable achievement. But SNAP provides nearly $100 million in benefits in October alone, more than six times the combined monthly operating budgets of all seven food banks in the state.

Charitable food assistance plays a critical role in filling short-term gaps, but it was never designed to offset sweeping federal cuts. No donation drive, no holiday campaign, no emergency fund can replace the infrastructure or economic lift of SNAP.

Last month, the legislature and Governor’s office worked together to secure funding for the senior meals program, a bipartisan decision that protected vulnerable Kentuckians. We need that same commitment as SNAP’s state cost shift comes into view.

We need a strong, stable nutrition program that keeps folks employed, keeps kids learning, and keeps bellies full.

SNAP does all of that, every single day.

Now, it’s time to protect it.

Melissa McDonald is executive director of Feeding Kentucky. She can be emailed through Katherine Yochum at katherine@runswitchpr.com