WV committing up to $13M to support food banks as hunger expected to rise due to SNAP delay

by Caity Coyne and Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
October 28, 2025

With federal food assistance in peril as a federal government shutdown persists, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Tuesday the state would contribute “up to $13 million” to the state’s two food banks — Facing Hunger in Huntington and Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway. 

He called on West Virginians to match the state’s contribution. 

“West Virginians in the past have shown that they come together during times like this,” Morrisey said. “We take care of our neighbors. We roll up our sleeves. We get things done. So today, I’m calling on all of us across West Virginia — individuals, families, businesses, people who care about the needy in our state, to step up. 

“We want to come together, and we want to help the people who might need that assistance or not be able to gain access to their SNAP benefits,” Morrisey said. 

As the federal government marked nearly 30 days of being shut down, the U.S. Department of Agriculture — which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — posted over the weekend “there will be no benefits issued” Nov. 1.

The SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, helps feed about 275,000 West Virginians, or one in six state residents. 

Mountaineer Food Bank serves 48 counties in West Virginia. Facing Hunger serves 12 counties in the state as well as parts of Ohio and Kentucky. All donations to the organizations through this donation drive will be split 50/50 to each organization, Morrisey said.

Morrisey said that money paid by the state to support the food banks is from funds that “had come in from the COVID era and that had been sitting there.” He did not specify what fund exactly, saying only that it was one of the state’s contingency funds.

A portion of the money coming from the state will be paid out as soon as Wednesday, Morrisey said. He did not know exactly how much would be made immediately available, but said it would be at least “millions of dollars up front to each of the food banks.”

“[That’s] just to make sure that they’re having the resources to begin to buy the food and do those things, and then we’re going to evaluate based upon the [individual] donations,” Morrisey said. “We’re going to be communicating in real time, but we want to get the upfront monies out to start the process.”

To help handle the expected influx of need across West Virginia over the next few days and weeks, Morrisey said that the state’s National Guard was also going to be activated. State Adjutant General James Seward said that activation would be for up to 200 members of the National Guard. Depending on what the needs are, it’s likely that all 200 won’t be working at the same time.

Seward said the Guard’s role will be meeting needs as they arise from both the food banks and the state’s 211 help line. It could include doing meal deliveries or holding mobile food pantries in communities that don’t have existing feeding organizations.

Caitlin Cook, the director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Mountaineer Food Bank, said individuals at her organization have already been in discussions with the Guard. It’s likely, she said, that the partnership will prove helpful when it comes to supporting smaller community partners who are often short on staff, but exist in places with high need.

Morrisey’s announcement Tuesday came after Democrats in the state House of Delegates called on him to use contingency funds to make the SNAP payments for the month of November, as families prepare for Thanksgiving. 

Last week the governor expedited $1.1 million in funding that was already headed for feeding programs in the state and urged people to donate to food banks. In the letter, the Democrats called Morrisey’s moves “Band-Aids” that will help momentarily. “Systematic change and monumental assistance are crucial at this moment,” they wrote. “And we must act now.”

That $1.1 million for the food banks was allocated during the state Legislative session and, according to Cook, was meant to support their work throughout a full fiscal year. Now, though, the most pressing need is buying food for immediate distribution, meaning the funds won’t be available for future needs.

“Obviously the most important thing that food banks and food pantries can have access to right now is purchasing power for food,” Cook said. “And that’s what Gov. Morrissey has done with these two actions.”

But factors are compounding and the purchasing power of that food could be difficult to exercise since the increased need is existing nationwide. Feeding organizations have already voiced concerns over challenges in accessing protein-rich, healthy foods for their clients in normal times.

Now, as all 50 states see food insecurity increase due to the pause on SNAP, that could become even more difficult.

“We’re talking about several different groups of people right now that we’re responsible for feeding and, hopefully, feeding nutritious, healthy meals,” Cook said. “You have federal employees not being paid, you have people who [won’t] receive their SNAP benefits, but you also have people where their main access point to food assistance all the time is food banks and pantries — they don’t get SNAP. So now the system they rely on exclusively is facing additional pressure.”

Earlier Tuesday, more than two dozen Democrat-controlled states sued the Trump administration for refusing to fund SNAP during the government shutdown. The food stamp program helps feed roughly 42 million people nationwide. The states are asking a federal judge to require Trump to fund the program with emergency reserve funding. 

Meanwhile, West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey joined a coalition of 18 Republican attorneys general who are calling on Democrats in the U.S. Senate to pass a clean continuing resolution to “save SNAP benefits.” The AGs sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY.

“It is time for Democrats to step up to the plate and join Republicans to pass a clean continuing resolution to help those who need help most,” McCuskey said in the news release. “The American people should not be pawns in this game that has gone on for far too long. The time to act is now.”

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.