Hidden amidst the hue and cry, buried beneath vaccines and tariffs and cankles (all of which are unpleasant but manageable for us), came something that touched me directly. My news and Substack feeds led me to this tidbit:
FNS encourages state agencies to submit notification of termination by Aug. 15, 2025, and to return unexpended FY 2025 SNAP-Ed grant funds by Dec.1, 2025.
Let me explain.
Grandma's Garden has been the recipient of much wonderfulness from the USDA's SNAP-Ed school garden program. We received a hanging garden grant (including plants and soil and irrigation) when we were first starting out. Later on, they funded tools and trugs and fertilizer. They went shopping for vegetable starters with me at Rillito Nursery, providing both sage advice on edible flowers and a credit card to pay for it all.
Each grant was worth about $500. It was good, seeing my tax dollars spread throughout the community, benefitting hundreds of kids and their families every year, through an occasional contribution from my government, one that wouldn't even show up as a rounding error in the federal budget.
It felt good in ways that funding weaponry did not, not to mention that I was personally benefitting from some of the actual dollars we'd paid in taxes. I didn't have to dig into my own resources; my tax dollars covered it all.
All that is soon to be lost, per the tidbit above.
Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) administers the SNAP-Ed piece of USDA's alphabet soup.... at least until December 1, 2025. I'm not sure if that's a random date or a budgetary mandate but the upshot is that there won't be any more federal support for exposing the Prince scholars to the wonderful world of vegetables.
Further investigation reveals that funding for the Arizona Health Zone program, which oversaw my grants, ends October 1, 2025. (AZ Health Zone was nothing but wonderful; it's worth checking out what's being lost.)
The Prince scholars' free lunches will continue; I should be happy about that, I suppose.
I fired off an email to my last contact at Cooperative Extension, which bounced back. She left her post early this year.
Her successor is now the recipient of my query. Are there unspent funds in the grant program before the scythe cuts them down? I'm less than thrilled at the recission and the demand that they be sent them back (unlawfully?) to an ungrateful Treasury.
It was worded more politely but still got my message across. If there are dollars to be had by legitimate means, I'm all over it.
I've been raging against the machine for a long time. It will be nice to get some tangible payback for my participation in our democracy...... and in the lives of little kids in my small corner of the world.
I do not know who you write to but I would guess if you can get a letter to Melania Trump, it might be more effective given the interests she has expressed. Can't lose more than a stamp.
ReplyDeleteone more thought... give your readers the info for the program and we would also write as we've seen the value of this for the kids.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rain. A little bit of noise here could go a long way. I'll buy the stamps ;)
ReplyDeleteThe current Federal Gov't is evil.
ReplyDeleteToo bad more people don't think in terms of solutions instead of insults. If this program doesn't get government money, how about readers offering money to keep it going for the sake of the kids. We've seen enough by now to realize how it helps the kids.
DeleteThat's generous, Rain. I could cover it all myself, but with a lot of help from my friends here it's more the principal than the actual dollars.
DeleteAs to private philanthropy replacing government returning benefits to the taxpayers I worry about a return to the "worthy poor" concept.
There are no easy answers. At least here we are talking about it. In Congress FFOTUS has a stranglehold on those R's who refuse to meet with the D's.
And don't get me started on Stephen Miller....
a/b
It's important that more help when the government fails because it encourages the kids to believe the world is not as evil as they are too often taught. Let us know how and where to send checks.
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