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Description
The Georgia General Assembly established Georgia's State Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) in 1998. The state designated $2 million
during FY 1999 and $4 million during FY 2000 of the state's TANF
block grant to fund this program. During FY 1999, the Food Banks
purchased 2,903,819 pounds of food at an average per pound cost
of $.68. This food was distributed as groceries to 407,747 persons
or served as 1,377,453 hot meals. Distribution of these products
is limited to parents and their children who are TANF clients, transitioning
from welfare to work or are considered "at-risk" for TANF
enrollment. DHR contracts with the Food Banks to provide this needed
service. Goals for the program are:
- A Nutritional safety net to relieve situations of hunger, undernutrition,
and short-term food shortages for needy Georgians.
- Purchase of primarily Georgia agricultural and food products
for distribution.
- 4 million dollars continuing budget item within the Department
of Human Resources.
Georgia Food Bank Association
There are eight Food Banks in the state, which collectively serve
all 159 counties. Established as central distribution warehouses
to serve a broad array of community-based nonprofit organizations,
Food Banks in Georgia distributed more than 34.2 million pounds
of donated food valued at 43.7 million dollars to 2,647 organizations
during 2000. Food Banks reside in Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta,
Columbus, Macon, Savannah, and Valdosta. Food Banks are well-equipped
with warehousing equipment and space as well as trucking capabilities.
Growing Need
Recent changes in federal and state benefit programs have brought
dramatic cuts to the nation's primary hunger safety net, Food Stamps.
Accompanying cuts to WIC, which provides certain nutritional foods
to nursing mothers and their infants, as well as to the Meals on
Wheels for the elderly programs, have raised dramatically the demands
on private, community based hunger relief providers. Research from
Wayne State University concludes that the "welfare reform increment
appears to amount to approximately one-fifth (19.7%) of the client
population." (Focus, Fall 1999). The "Georgia Welfare
Leavers Study, Initial Results" completed by the Andrew Young
School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University found that
only 23% of families who had transitioned off TANF were able to
purchase enough food to support their nutritional health. (P. 22).
Proposal for FY 2002 Georgia State Budget
SNAP should be funded at the $4 million level as part of DHR's budget
request for TANF expenditures. Georgia's SNAP project has become
a model for other states and has been hailed by HHS as a logical,
much-needed use of TANF funds. This money will provide more than
two million meals for low-income children and adults. This level
of funding would provide 20% of the money required to address unmet
needs
 
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