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Imagine you’re an older person standing in line at your local pharmacy for your heart medication. The pharmacist rings up your total, and you suddenly realize you don’t have enough money to pay for your prescription and the groceries you were going to grab for dinner on your way home. How do you choose?

Choices like that could be a reality for thousands more across the Ozarks once the Big Beautiful Bill takes effect. Passed by Congress in July, the new law calls for a cut of $186 billion nationwide to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next 10 years. SNAP is one of the nation’s most important programs because it helps working families, seniors and people with disabilities afford food when budgets are tight. For the first time in the modern history of SNAP, the federal government will not ensure that the lowest-income people in every state have access to the food they need.

With 1 in 5 children and 1 in 6 adults already facing hunger in southwest Missouri, this law comes at a devastating time. The cuts primarily come from a harmful cost-sharing plan that shifts SNAP costs to individual states without providing the resources needed to manage that burden. Specifically, Missouri will have to pay up to 15% of SNAP costs starting in late 2028.

That may not sound like much, but it adds up to an estimated $225 million in state tax dollars, or 84 million meals, every year. Even Ozarks Food Harvest’s efficient distribution network can’t bridge a gap this big. For every meal a food bank like Ozarks Food Harvest provides, SNAP provides nine.

If Missouri can’t make up for these massive federal cuts with tax increases or spending reductions elsewhere in its budget, it will have to cut its SNAP program. They could do this by restricting eligibility-– making it harder for people to enroll – or by opting out of SNAP altogether in our state. More people will go hungry, and they won’t have anywhere to turn.

This is why it’s important to give to Ozarks Food Harvest all-year long. As the need rises, The Food Bank will continue to show up for our community, but meeting this challenge requires all of us. I’m calling on our partners, lawmakers, businesses, faith communities and supporters to stand with us and alongside people facing hunger.

I need your help to get more food on shelves, more meals into homes and more support into the hands of people who need it most. Please visit ozarksfoodharvest.org/donate to donate and help a Missouri family put a meal on the table this week.