ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Food pantries from across our hometowns came together Thursday for Feeding Southwest Virginia’s annual Agency Conference. It comes at a time when they’re facing great uncertainty.
With SNAP benefits set to expire over the weekend due to the ongoing government shutdown, Feeding Southwest Virginia and its partner agencies are gearing up for a major increase in demand for their services.
“There are almost 177,000 people who are on SNAP right now in our service area who are going to need extra help. Winter time is always more expensive, costs of goods are going up, and more people needed help before this,” said Feeding Southwest Virginia President and CEO Pamela Irvine. “Roanoke City has the highest SNAP participation of any of our counties and cities, with over 11,000 individuals. We’ve been working with DSS in Roanoke City, and we’re working with other offices to analyze that and see what that need is going to be.”…