As Vermonters turn on their furnaces and prepare for Thanksgiving, the Trump administration is once again taking aim at some of our most vulnerable neighbors. The White House and USDA recently announced their third attempt in the past 12 months to go around Congress and take food away from millions of working families, people with disabilities, and older Americans in need. A new proposed rule change would cut SNAP (known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT) benefits by $4.5 billion over five years, including a yearly cut of over $25 million in Vermont.

Hannaford Supermarkets last week announced a $188,000 donation to the Vermont Foodbank, which will allow the non-profit organization to more than double the reach of its VeggieVanGo program and deliver fresh, healthy food directly to students and families who may not be able to visit a traditional meal site or food shelf at a total of 13 schools throughout Vermont.

Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles joined host Dennis McMahon on Positively Vermont last week to talk a about hunger in Vermont, the work that the Foodbank does, and how people can access fresh food throughout the state.

The TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, recently donated a total of $25,000 to Vermont Foodbank as part of the foundation’s commitment to strengthening the community.

Lisa is a veteran living in Rutland who recently had a stroke. She couldn’t work while rehabilitating and was struggling to make ends meet. Thanks to your generous support, she could turn to the Vermont Foodbank for help.

Lottie is a single mom living in Concord, Vermont. For Lottie, challenges with transportation and affordable childcare have made it difficult to make enough money to afford food. Despite working, she doesn't make enough to cover her basic needs, but is making too much to qualify for many assistance programs.

This September, the Vermont Foodbank joins Feeding America food banks across the country to take part in Hunger Action Month and inspire people to take action and raise awareness of the fact that 40 million Americans, including 12.5 million children and 5.5 million seniors, are food insecure.

Earlier this month Tom Abbiati, a dedicated Foodbank staff member passed away. For the past fifteen years he worked hard every day to ensure that all people in Vermont had access to the food they needed.

Zoey is 11 years old. She lives with her mom and her brother Zeus. Zoey sees her mom work hard to provide for their family. She also sees the stress of making sure that everyone has enough to eat at home, especially during the summer when they can’t rely on school meals. Thanks to supporters like you, Zoey and her family can attend free lunches in their community this summer while school is out. This is Zoey’s story.