CARMEL – Despite Putnam’s reputation as one of New York State’s wealthiest counties, many residents still face hunger due to food insecurity, like in other regions.
Putnam lawmakers realize this fact, and at this week’s meeting of the county legislature, the lawmakers released $150,000 from a sub-contingency fund for a countywide food security initiative.
Legislator Nancy Montgomery proposed a resolution to distribute the funding to agencies that support local food pantries, helping address the SNAP crisis.
SNAP, or food stamps, which aids low-income families, has been cut by the Trump administration.
Montgomery said the SNAP-related food insecurity funds had not been distributed. “Although Putnam is considered a wealthy county, it still has pockets of poverty and thousands of residents who are food insecure,” she said.
Legislature Chairman Dan Birmingham said he was comfortable moving the money from one line item to another telling his colleagues, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to, as an administrative body or a legislative body, administer the nickel-and-diming of this to each recipient. We rely on our contract agencies,” he said.
The county contracts with Second Chance Foods and Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Martha Elder, executive director of Second Chance Foods, noted that her agency operates on a $2.3 million budget. “We work daily to make sure that food is equally distributed throughout our county,” she said.
Commissioner of Social Services and Mental Health Sarah Servadio said increases in food prices have worsened the situation.
She said the county’s growing senior population has been hit hardest, with many residents over 65 and people with disabilities denied SNAP benefits because their incomes exceed eligibility limits.
A study just released by Feeding America’s “Map the Meal Gap” noted that more than 351,000 people – or 12 percent of the population in the Regional Food Bank’s 23-county service area that includes the entire Hudson Valley – are food insecure, meaning they don’t always know where their next meal is coming from.
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