FRANKFORT, Ky. – President Donald Trump's proposed budget – according to many advocates for the poor – would make Americans weaker, sicker and hungrier.

The $4.1 trillion budget boosts military spending and doles out huge tax breaks, paid for by cuts to programs that millions of Americans rely on to survive.

The president's proposal calls for slashing the federal nutrition program by $192 billion over 10 years.

Ashley Spalding, a research and policy associate at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, says the cuts would put more than 650,000 Kentuckians at risk of deep hunger.

"The proposal at hand is truly a cruel budget for our country, and it would impact our state in a devastating way,” she states. “Because we're a poor state and we have a lot of state budget troubles already, Kentucky's going to be especially hit hard, and in particular the more rural parts of our state."

Spalding says Kentucky's 5th congressional district has the sixth highest number of households receiving SNAP benefits among all congressional districts in the country.

The majority of SNAP participants are children, seniors or people living with disabilities.

The Trump administration says the cuts will be balanced by stricter work requirements and reduced fraud.

But Spalding says with persistent unemployment, the numbers just don't add up.

"How's a person going to meet work requirements when there just aren't the jobs?” she asks. “Most of the counties in our state have waivers. Now, under the president's proposal, that would go down to just 10 counties that qualify."

Spalding says the president's budget puts a number of other key federal programs that help low-income Kentuckians on the chopping block, including Medicaid, CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program), Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance.

"Plus non-defense discretionary programs,” she adds. “These are federal programs that provide grants to states to do things like provide food through Meals on Wheels, to supplement educational services that we provide. These are really critical sources of funding."

The budget proposes shifting 25 percent of the cost of SNAP to the states, which Spalding contends Kentucky could not afford.

And without full federal funding, she says the program would not be able to adequately respond to economic downturns.




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Some North Dakota leaders believe healthy food is part of what is needed to help all kids achieve better outcomes and they hope low-income families sign up for new summer food assistance to keep their children on track.

State officials say eligible households have until Aug. 30 to apply for help buying groceries for kids while they are on break. North Dakota is one of many states to accept federal funding through the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program. Families receive a card with $120 on it for each eligible child, to spend on food.

Jared Slinde, communications manager for the Great Plains Food Bank, said there has always been concern about the "summer slide," and some kids also saw their learning suffer during the pandemic.

"Kids fell off track during COVID," Slinde observed. "Maybe they didn't have the best resources, which was certainly understandable. (The) Summer EBT program can help alleviate certain struggles that kids might have."

He explained staying nourished over the summer can help put them in a better position to learn once school starts and hopefully see their test scores rebound. Kids already receiving free or reduced-priced meals during the school year were automatically enrolled in Summer EBT but officials said more children may still qualify, and their parents are encouraged to sign up.

Slinde noted there are other programs, including ones offered by Great Plains Food Bank, helping families get food over the summer. He acknowledged things like transportation barriers might prevent some from getting to the sites distributing meals. The Summer EBT option could allow them to buy groceries from a neighborhood store.

"Our mission here is to end hunger together," Slinde stressed. "Any time we can have a number of different moving parts providing food assistance, we're going to be all for this."

He added they continue to see heightened demand overall for food assistance across North Dakota. So far, 32,000 North Dakota kids have been enrolled in the summer program.


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Food Bank of Northwest Indiana is facing a surge in demand for food assistance, despite the end of the pandemic.

The facility serves about 60,000 people monthly in Lake and Porter Counties.

Victor Garcia, the operation's CEO, said food banks operate differently from food pantries and soup kitchens. Food banks source food through donations, government programs and bulk purchases to supply local agencies.

"If you think of that food pantry at your local house of worship as a grocery store, and you think of a soup kitchen as a restaurant, our core business as food banks is to be the supplier to those agency partners," Garcia explained.

Garcia pointed out before the pandemic, the food bank conducted two mobile distributions weekly, serving about 4,000 people a month. During the pandemic, this spiked to six distributions weekly, serving 14,000 people.

According to the nonprofit group Feeding Indiana's Hungry, one in seven Hoosiers is food insecure. The group also reported the hunger rate for children in Indiana is even higher at one in five or worse in 38 of Indiana's 92 counties.

Garcia noted to meet demand, his facility currently maintains five distributions each week and serves about 12,000 people each month.

"The increased cost of product is creating significant impacts," Garcia stressed. "While we're looking for donated food as much as possible, we are buying more food than we ever have as a network to meet the increase in demand."

The food bank relies heavily on community donations and volunteer efforts. Garcia emphasized every dollar donated provides three meals, and volunteers are essential, with 7,200 individuals having volunteered last year alone.


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With school cafeterias closed for the summer, community groups and nonprofits are working to ensure that Colorado's one in five children who go without food because their family can't afford groceries can still get nutritious meals.

Kristen Collins, executive director of Colorado Food Cluster, said because rural families have longer distances to travel for in-person summer meal sites, her group is now delivering boxes of food directly to homes.

"The box includes seven days worth of breakfast, and seven days worth of lunch," she explained. "All of those meals are shelf-stable, so you'll get tuna packets, chicken salad packets, Goldfish, juices."

Collins said she expects to serve meals to 1,800 low income kids across 20 rural counties this year. Last year, Congress exempted rural areas from rules that require summer meals to be eaten at a specific site, and there are now "to go" options available outside metro areas as well.

To find a summer meal, visit KidsFoodFinder.org, or text the word "Food" or "Comida" to 304-304.

Participating community recreation centers, libraries, churches and other sites across the state are also serving free breakfast, lunch, snacks and supper to Colorado youths all summer long.

Justice Onwordi, impact director with Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger, said anyone 18 and younger can share a meal with friends.

"You don't have to be enrolled in any school, you don't have to be enrolled in any type of federal or state programs. It's for anyone and everyone, and you don't even need a proof of ID or anything like that. You can just show up to a site," said Onwordi.

All locations are required to meet federal nutrition guidelines. Many offer fun activities for kids and teens designed to exercise both minds and bodies, to help make sure kids are healthy and ready to learn when they head back to school in the fall.