By:Steph Quinn
Missouri Independent
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and state health officials on Wednesday announced continued funding for food assistance amid worry that key federal safety net programs will run dry as the government shutdown enters its fifth week.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said federal nutrition benefits for low-income mothers and their young children will remain available into November, through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC.
Over 98,000 Missourians received WIC benefits in September, according to the department.
“At this time, there is no plan to pause WIC operations or benefit redemption,” said Lisa Cox, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, in an email to The Independent.
The department said in an earlier press release that it will notify retailers and WIC recipients if it becomes necessary to suspend benefits “in the latter half of the month.”
Kehoe also announced the transfer of $10.6 million to Missouri Area Agencies on Aging to help provide meals to seniors and the early distribution of a $5 million appropriation to food banks that was planned for later in the year.
While advocates welcomed the measures, they cautioned that they won’t replace a funding plan for the federal government that would place programs like WIC on a firm footing in the longer term.
Wes Buchholz, vice president of programs at Crosslines Resource Center in Springfield, said he was “really excited” to hear that WIC will stay afloat for now, because baby formula is so difficult for food pantries like his to source.
“We have never found a way to buy formula at a good price, and it’s not something that gets donated hardly ever,” Buchholz said.
“Obviously, December is in question.”
Casey Hanson, deputy director at Kids Win Missouri, a nonprofit that advocates for children and families in the state, said the stopgaps will help families, but the shutdown is “continuing to create an environment that is difficult for parents to navigate.”
A much larger federal food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is expected to run out of funds at the end of the week.
In addition to SNAP and WIC, federal funding for Head Start programs, which provide early childhood education, nutritious meals and other support services to families, is also in jeopardy while the shutdown continues.
As the end-of-year holidays approach, Hanson said, “kids are going to be home more, and families are going to need access to all of those resources.”
“Those families are already navigating tough situations in most cases, which is why they need those safety net programs,” Hanson said.
State Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck called Kehoe’s transfer of just over $15 million a “hollow gesture” in a post on X, noting that Missouri disbursed $131.5 million in SNAP benefits in September.
“We need real solutions,” Beck said. “Not Washington-style stunts that don’t fix anything.”
Cox, the spokesperson for the state health department, said the continued availability of WIC is thanks to the program’s funding structure and cost-saving measures taken by the department predating the shutdown.
The department receives an annual sum from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and must adjust its offerings to ensure funding lasts as the number of WIC participants rises or falls each month. In October, for instance, the department cut yogurt, goat milk and evaporated milk, as well as some name brand items, from WIC-eligible purchases in response to rising costs.
Sarah Willson, the department’s director, said the measures “have been valuable in extending the benefits to WIC families longer.”
Buchholz urged Missourians hoping to help ease hunger to volunteer and donate to their local food pantries. Financial donations allow food pantries to purchase needed items at lower prices than are available to consumers, he noted.
“We’re going to need greater community support,” Buchholz said, “if the shutdown continues for a prolonged period of time.”