New York food bank worries that SNAP benefits could be cut
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (FOX 5 NY) - Dozens of employees at the food bank Feeding Westchester on Tuesday stocked and prepared to serve hundreds of thousands of needy families in Westchester County.
"You need access to good, nutritious food in order to be a productive, successful member of any community here in the United States," said Leslie Gordon, the president and CEO of the county's leading nonprofit hunger relief organization.
Gordon is concerned following an announcement from the Trump administration that funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, could be in jeopardy for millions of Americans.
"It does help supplement their existing and small-cash budget," Gordon said of SNAP.
So far in 2019, 1,700 people called on Feeding Westchester for help with the SNAP. A majority of those people, who are mostly seniors, required home visits.
Although the Trump administration has only alluded to changing the rules to prevent what they call abuse of the program, Gordon said she hopes they're just making another headline and the $120 per person per month through SNAP won't be taken away.
"Access to good food is really a basic right," Gordon said.
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