Jim Oliphant and his wife, Renee, finally achieved what they always wanted to do: grow old together. As they aged, the shifting economy made it increasingly difficult to afford even the basics. They’ve received food benefits from the federal government for about six years.
Now 65 and retired, the couple relies mostly on Social Security and a small monthly benefit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Oliphant keeps a meticulous spreadsheet tracking their income and benefits, and they plan every meal in advance to stretch their SNAP dollars as far as possible. They receive about $115 per month or $28.75 per week for groceries. He accesses about eight different food banks and services throughout the year in order to eat.
That planning could become difficult in the coming weeks. Federal SNAP funds will not be distributed in November due to the government shutdown. Virginia will launch a separate food assistance program starting Nov. 3, becoming the first state in the nation to fill the gap left behind. After November, it’s unclear where — if anywhere — food assistance will come from if the government shutdown continues.
While Virginia’s new program will provide benefits in a time when vulnerable groups like senior citizens and families with children need them most, it’s a bandage over a bullet hole of missing federal funding, experts say.
In short, uncertainty has replaced the stability Oliphant has worked hard to build. He’s not alone.
Over 850,000 Virginians receive SNAP benefits every month to buy groceries, according to September 2025 SNAP data from the Virginia Department of Social Services. This includes 8,408 individuals in Roanoke City, 12,395 in Lynchburg, 8,127 in Wise County, 4,270 in Bristol and 7,386 in Tazewell County.
“It’s stressful. It can wear on you, but all we can do is do better at resourcing what we can find. We have to live with it, I guess. I don’t know what else to do,” Oliphant said.
Virginia ‘building an airplane while it’s taking off’ to fill SNAP gap
In the absence of federal SNAP funding, the state is creating what Gov. Glenn Youngkin calls a “parallel food assistance program” to get benefits to Virginians in November. Because SNAP is a federal program, Virginia can’t dump funds into it to revive it, Youngkin explained at a Tuesday press conference. Instead, the state must make a separate program to temporarily replace SNAP — a process that Youngkin compared to “building an airplane while it’s taking off.”
The new program, called Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance or VENA, will cost the state $37.5 million per week to operate, Youngkin said. The governor declared a state of emergency on Oct. 23, which allows him to tap into the budget surplus to cover the cost.
According to a July press release, fiscal year-end revenues added a surplus of $572 million to the already incorporated $2.1 billion surplus in the state’s budget.
“We’ve worked through the finances to go through the entire month of November,” Youngkin said at the press conference. It is unclear what would happen next to VENA if the federal government shutdown is not resolved within the month.
The infrastructure behind SNAP and VENA is the same. Benefits will be loaded onto recipients’ current cards, and retailers need no new technology to accept the payments, Youngkin said. All Virginians who received SNAP benefits in October will automatically receive VENA benefits in November, with no separate enrollment or setup required.
The biggest difference between SNAP and VENA is the schedule of benefit distribution. With SNAP, households received benefits once at the beginning of every month. Now, with VENA, benefits will be distributed weekly. The weekly VENA benefits will add up to the same amount as the monthly SNAP benefit households previously received, according to an announcement from the state’s Department of Social Services.
The new schedule is designed to create flexibility “in hopes the federal shutdown will end soon” and SNAP can take over for VENA, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
The first VENA benefits will be distributed on Nov. 3, 5 and 7, based on alphabetical groupings of recipients’ last names. A distribution schedule is available on the Virginia Department of Social Services’ website.
Before the shutdown, Virginia had never supplemented federal SNAP benefits with state funds. Setting up an emergency fund to bridge the federal gap was no small task, said Cassie Edner, a lawyer with the Virginia Poverty Law Center. State officials had to move quickly to design a system and coordinate with local agencies to ensure payments reach Virginians who rely on the program.
Lynchburg resident Mary Fisher, 44, has been receiving SNAP benefits for about five years and said she is grateful for the governor’s quick action to create a new food assistance program.
“Without this, we were going to starve,” Fisher said.
She and her boyfriend live on one income, and by the time they pay rent and purchase other essentials, there’s “rarely enough left” for groceries, she said. She hasn’t been able to work since her left leg was amputated in 2023 due to severe blood clotting.
With monthly SNAP distributions, Fisher said she had an established shopping strategy of buying in bulk and stretching benefits to cover as many meals as possible, especially by stocking up on frozen foods. Weekly VENA benefits are “better than nothing,” but Fisher said she’ll need to get creative to budget the smaller increments, especially as the holidays approach.
“It’s really scary not knowing if we’ll have enough to get a turkey,” Fisher said. “But I’m just thankful we live in Virginia, because anywhere else, we wouldn’t have anything.”
Fisher said she’s tired of seeing political parties blame each other for the government shutdown. It’s only increasing the anger and anxiety that SNAP recipients have felt all month, she said, as they waited for news on whether or not benefits would continue into November.
“It’s alarming that politicians would actually leave everyone without food,” she said. “No one’s talking about that part, but they should with an election coming up.”
Change is difficult for everyone, from the residents who will receive VENA to the social services staff who will oversee it, said Lynchburg’s Director of Human Services Preston Sellers.
“It creates anxiety until you actually see it working, but I’m very optimistic about the process,” he said in an interview. “We’re just asking people to be patient if there’s any hiccups, but there’s no reason to anticipate things not going smoothly.”
Like Fisher, Sellers is grateful to see Virginia stepping up to fill the gap left behind by the federal government.
It’s important to remember that VENA is a temporary and imperfect fix, said Emily Moore, senior policy analyst at Voices for Virginia’s Children. For example, smaller benefit increments may make it harder for families to get what they need at the grocery store, she said. And, unlike SNAP, VENA is not accepting new applications, she added. That leaves out Virginia residents who are seeing their household income fall this season — including federal workers who have been furloughed or laid off.
“The VENA program is good news for Virginians who have been facing uncertainty around if they would have the food assistance that they need in November,” she said. “But this is a short-lived solution that is both expensive and unsustainable for Virginia to manage long-term.”
The road to Nov. 1
Sellers said October was a month that required calm in the face of chaos. When the government shutdown began Oct. 1, the fate of federally funded programs like SNAP became unknown, he said.
“You really don’t know how to take it day to day,” he said. “We just kept repeating what it is that we know, and sometimes what we know is that we don’t know.”
In the past week alone, the status of food assistance in Virginia seemed to change every time Sellers opened his email inbox, he said. Youngkin declared a state of emergency on Oct. 23 with little guidance on what state emergency action could accomplish; on Oct. 26, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that no SNAP benefits would be issued anywhere in the country in November; on Oct. 28, Youngkin released the VENA plan and brought food assistance back to Virginia.
The USDA’s announcement came after debates on whether or not the department would tap into contingency funds to keep SNAP running during the government shutdown. The decision not to use contingency funds came on Oct. 24 and contradicts the language in the agency’s own “Lapse in Funding” guiding document, according to the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute focused on issues affecting low- and moderate-income families.
The guidance, dated Sept. 30, 2025, has since been removed from the USDA’s website, but an archived copy is available on DocumentCloud. The document states that the contingency fund, which comes to about $6 billion, should be used to cover lapses in benefits, including during a government shutdown. It also outlines the steps the USDA would take if a shutdown occurred on Oct. 1, 2025.
“Congressional intent is evident that SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds that can be used for State Administrative Expenses to ensure that the State can also continue operations during a Federal Government shutdown. These multi-year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year,” the document read.
During the first term of the Trump administration, when the federal government last shut down, contingency funds from the USDA sustained SNAP benefits. Historically, during other budget crises and government shutdowns, both Republican and Democratic administrations found ways to keep SNAP benefits flowing by using this fund, according to the Food Research and Action Center.
117,000 seniors use SNAP and worry where their next meal will come from
The uncertainty of the past month and future status of SNAP have hit certain vulnerable groups harder than others, experts say.
Sharon Middleton, 74, began receiving SNAP benefits several years ago after her health declined and she started receiving disability payments. She has osteoporosis, arthritis and high blood pressure. Her daughter, Princess, lives with her as a full-time caregiver, and her grandson, who works part-time while attending college, also lives in the home.
In addition to SNAP benefits, Middleton relies on food pantries and local churches for groceries. Lately, though, the lines have been getting longer. As federal employees go without pay during the shutdown, many are turning to the same sources of donated food, she said.
When Middleton heard that Youngkin planned to create an emergency fund to temporarily fill the gap in federal SNAP funding, she felt some relief. She hoped it meant her family could afford a decent Thanksgiving dinner. But with the shift to weekly rather than monthly payments, she’s uncertain whether she’ll be able to buy everything they need.
“You don’t want to get old,” Middleton said. “It’s not just depressing, it’s like you don’t want to get up in the morning because when you do wake up you’re faced with all the realities of what’s going on around you.”
Older adults like Middleton are particularly vulnerable when food assistance is disrupted. Many live on fixed incomes and face mobility or transportation barriers. Her experience mirrors that of thousands of older Virginians living on the edge of food insecurity. According to 2022 USDA data, 117,636 seniors, defined as people age 60 and up, utilize SNAP benefits in Virginia.
As shutdowns and federal cuts ripple through safety net programs, seniors — many of whom spent decades working, raising families and contributing to their communities — are left worrying about how to afford their next meal.
The ripple effects from the shutdown affect food access in more ways than one, said Ron Boyd, CEO of the Local Office on Aging in Roanoke, which is a member of the Area Agencies on Aging network. Food access for seniors is being squeezed from multiple directions.
Meals on Wheels, a food delivery service for seniors who are unable to purchase or shop for themselves, is administered through the LOA for Roanoke. They stopped taking new clients in October. The service is supported by a mix of government funding, private donations and participant contributions.
Boyd, who started as CEO shortly before the last government shutdown in 2018, remembers the impact clearly. They had to suspend several services and lay off staff. Since then, the organization has worked to become more financially independent, but the current uncertainty has forced it to spend nearly all its reserve funds.
This year, the Meals on Wheels service kept running through October because of the financial reserves, but those funds are limited, Boyd said, and services will stop at the end of the month.
Nutrition is consistently one of the most requested services, and demand is already rising as resources tighten.
Children are also vulnerable, experts say
Long-term restoration of SNAP is crucial to ensure that some of Virginia’s most vulnerable residents — children and their parents — get the food they need to thrive, said Moore of Voices for Virginia’s Children.
More than 67% of Virginia SNAP participants are in families with children, according to a January report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Children experiencing hunger often have a hard time focusing and learning in school and can face lasting mental and physical health challenges, Moore said. Their parents, navigating the rising cost of living, are impacted too, she added. In fact, 65% of Virginia families with children report having to choose between buying enough food and paying for other essentials such as gas, utility bills, rent and health care today — that’s up from 46% in 2024, according to a No Kid Hungry study.
“When a parent is struggling to figure out where their next meal is going to come from, that’s not just hitting their wallets. That’s not just hitting their children,” Moore said. “It’s hitting them mentally and emotionally. It adds another layer of stress to families, which impacts their ability to care for their children well.”
Meals provided at school are “a true pillar of food security” that often gets overlooked, Moore said, but is crucial in times when the fate of food assistance is unknown.
Beth Morris, director of school nutrition at Lynchburg City Schools, said she’s seen the power of a healthy meal to equip students to thrive in school, especially in recent years when the pandemic and the rising cost of living have made food insecurity even more of a local challenge.
“I know that a hungry child can’t be hungry for learning,” she said. “This period of time in my career just amplified how true Maslow’s Hierarchy is. Without those basic needs, you really don’t have the luxury of moving higher.”
Lynchburg City Schools are a part of a federally funded program called a “community eligibility provision” that allows Morris’ department to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. The school district is reimbursed for the meals it provides, but reimbursements haven’t been keeping up with the inflation of food costs, Morris said. She had to dip into department savings last year to balance her department’s budget for the first time in recent memory.
The amount of reimbursement dollars is determined by what percentage of students are certified in programs like SNAP, Medicaid and other assistance programs, Morris said. If fewer students qualify for SNAP and similar programs, the district’s reimbursement rates would fall, and Morris would have to choose to either cover the extra costs or cut back on quality offerings. Sourcing lettuce from a cafeteria wholesaler instead of Amherst’s Mount Pleasant Growers would certainly save her money, she said, but wouldn’t be as healthy or yummy for students.
Moore is following stories like Morris’ closely as the future of SNAP remains uncertain, she said, because “the tie between SNAP and school meals couldn’t be more important” when it comes to getting food in the bellies of kids who need it most.
Legislation and future SNAP changes still in play
The pause in federal SNAP funding is happening at the same time as other SNAP changes take shape under HR1, the federal spending bill. The legislation will reduce how much federal funding is distributed to states as they operate SNAP and how many people are eligible to receive benefits — that could have serious implications for SNAP’s future in Virginia, said Edner of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates for low-income Virginians.
Under the spending bill, states will, for the first time, be required to share in the cost of benefit payments if certain payment error‐rate thresholds are exceeded.
The only way Virginia can minimize the cost it pays is by reducing its error rate, which currently sits in the category requiring the highest state contribution, equaling about $260 million. It’s difficult to reduce an error rate at a time when social services staff are stressed about adapting to a new VENA program and the other implications of a government shutdown, Edner said.
In the meantime, legislators and community organizations are taking stock to address food insecurity in their regions.
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield County, stopped at the Local Office on Aging in Roanoke this week as part of a statewide tour while campaigning on the Democratic ticket for lieutenant governor. Even if she loses the race, she’ll still continue serving in the state Senate, she said. Either way, she said she plans to make addressing hunger in Virginia a priority.
“What we’re hearing from many of our regional food pantries is that their shelves are emptying out and they’re not able to replace products,” she said. “It’s overwhelming to hear all of the ways vulnerable communities are being impacted. And the impacts we’ll have throughout the economy.”
SNAP plays a key role in supporting both families and local economies. Every $1 spent in SNAP benefits during an economic downturn generates about $1.50 in economic activity, according to Edner. SNAP households use those benefits to purchase food at more than 6,400 authorized retail locations across Virginia.
In rural areas, some grocery stores rely heavily on customers who use SNAP benefits, Edner said. A disruption in those payments could threaten the financial stability of those businesses.
Many legislators did not respond to requests from Cardinal News for comment about the uncertainty surrounding SNAP. Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick County, did and thanked the governor for acting quickly to create an emergency mechanism to continue food benefits.
“This is what good government looks like: proactive, not reactive,” Williams said in a statement.
Community safety nets remain crucial resource
Moore said, with anxiety over the future of SNAP in the air, now is the time to donate volunteer hours, money, and food and build a stronger mutual aid network in Virginia.
“If we can’t rely on our government to take care of us, then we have to care for each other,” she said.
Riah Molina, organizer of Lynchburg’s Food Not Bombs chapter, agreed. Food Not Bombs got its start in the early 1980s to call for military spending to be redirected to fight hunger, Molina said, and she feels like “not much has changed” since then, with food assistance being withheld during today’s government shutdown.
Lynchburg’s chapter hosts sharing events every Saturday at 11 a.m. at Miller Park, where community members can take whatever food, clothes and hygiene products they need for no cost and no questions asked. About two months ago, an average Saturday turnout was about 60 people, Molina said. Last weekend, 250 stopped by, and the supplies were gone by 11:30 a.m., she said. She attributes the increase to the rising cost of living and the growing anxiety about whether programs like SNAP and Medicaid will survive through the government shutdown.
“People are struggling in general right now,” she said. “So I think the need, even without this whole food stamp thing, would have kept growing.”
Those facing food insecurity can turn to local food banks and community pantries as SNAP changes roll out. Feeding Southwest Virginia and Blue Ridge Area Food Bank have online directories with information about nearby food distribution sites.
Moore also recommended that SNAP recipients check out Virginia Fresh Match, a statewide program that helps make fresh, locally grown food more affordable, to further stretch their benefits. From Nov. 19 to 26, SNAP customers can get $20 in free fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets. SNAP beneficiaries can receive 75% off produce at certain grocery stores, according to the organization’s Facebook page.
Oliphant has used many of these resources, especially Virginia Fresh Match, he said. He recalled his years as a senior pastor at a church in the Midwest, where food and clothing drives were designed to preserve people’s dignity — something that he feels is missing today.
Over the years, he built a full life. He earned a college degree, raised kids and held several managerial roles before his wife’s health declined. When Renee was diagnosed with lupus and cirrhosis of the liver, they started their own business as full-time musicians, performing together as RagTop. The work offered the flexibility they needed to balance her care with their livelihood.
Now, retirement is more stressful than he could have anticipated.
“Retiring on social security is stressful everyday,” Oliphant said. The uncertainty surrounding their food benefits adds another layer of anxiety — making it harder to picture a future where they can simply grow old together in peace.