The Jamestown Mobile Market at the James Prendergast Library

Jamestown Public Market‘s Mobile Market begins its season today.

The Mobile Market brings fresh, local food to five sites around Jamestown on every Wednesday and Thursday through September 28.

Jamestown Public Market Food Access Coordinator Emily Le Blanc is overseeing the Mobile Market this season.

The Mobile Market buys produce from Abers Acres, Hidden Valley Farm, and baked goods and jams from an Amish baker, Lizzie Byler.

Every Wednesday the Mobile Market drives to local farms and bakers to pick up food for distribution. It then drives back to Jamestown with St. Luke’s Episcopal Church as the first stop. The church runs the Eat Fresh, Do Good CSA, the proceeds of which help support the Mobile Market.

The Mobile Market then drives to various locations throughout the city which include:
– The Resource Center at 890 E. Second Street, to be there from 10am to 11am.
– James Prendergast Library, from 11:30am to 12:30.
– The Chautauqua Center, staying from 1:00 to 2:00.

The Mobile Market makes two stops on Thursdays:
– Silver Tree Seniors at 8 Crane Street, from 1:00 to 2:00pm
– Bush Elementary, from 2:30 to 3:30pm.

The Mobile Market accepts cash, cards, SNAP, the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, Veggie Rx, and, starting in July, Double Up Food Bucks.

The Jamestown Public Market is continuing a collaboration with Office of the Aging’s Local Roots Program. Thanks to a grant via Blue Cross Blue Shield of WNY, a new vehicle has been added to the roster. This new sprinter van will be refrigerated, and utilized to bring produce for OFA’s program to various senior living sites across Chautauqua County.

For more information on the Jamestown Mobile Market or the Veggie RX program, visit www.jtownpublicmarket.org

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on House Republican debt ceiling plan (April 26, 2023)

House Republicans passed a debt ceiling hike Wednesday.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed his package to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through the House in a close vote. But the White House continues to say that it will not negotiate on the issue.

The federal government could default as soon as early June.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the House’s Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, calling it a “gut punch” and a “Default On America,” “This plan means fewer jobs, higher costs for the American people, particularly average middle class people, would leave police, first responders, border patrol, and our brave veterans all hanging out to dry. There are dramatic slashes with each of those very necessary functions.”

Schumer said a clean debt ceiling had been passed before in a bipartisan manner twice under President Trump and once under President Obama.

Congressman Nick Langworthy issued a statement on the plan, saying, “Today, I was proud to vote for the Limit Save Grow Act that is the first step to breaking Washington’s addiction to spending and getting our nation’s finances back on track. This plan is a responsible, reasonable framework for spending reforms that the American people are demanding. It’s time for President Biden to stop the games and come to the table to negotiate.”

Schumer said the cuts in the House’s plan are not abstract including the possibility that 2 million New York residents could lose Medicaid coverage, “It slashes federal heating assistance, LIHEAP, that upstate families and seniors use to stay safe. We lose close to a billion dollars in LIHEAP and would reduce the average benefit a household would receive by $400. New York does better with LIHEAP than any other state and it would hurt us dramatically.”

Schumer said there could be a $144 million cut in SNAP benefits for New Yorkers which would affect 53,000 residents in the state.

Moody’s analytics warned that “dramatic” cuts to government spending in the House Republican’s plan would spark a 2024 recession that costs the economy 2.6 million jobs and lifts the unemployment rate near 6%.

A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday showed the Republican plan would reduce federal deficits by $4.8 trillion over the decade if the proposed changes were enacted into law.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist meets with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Washington D.C.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist discussed workforce development concerns with representatives in Washington D.C. on a recent trip.

Sundquist was in the nation’s capitol for the National League of Cities‘ lobby day where he was able to meet with Congressman Nick Langworthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

He said part of day was spent discussing the Infrastructure Act and the concern from the White House over there being enough people to do the work of building new roads, bridges, and more, “And there was a really great discussion from senior leadership officials in the administration on how can cities be the driving force for workforce development? And how can we create models that can replicate across this country to train people to work on those items, that infrastructure, rebuilding our infrastructure across this country.”

Sundquist said one workforce development model is being worked on with the construction trades here in Jamestown, “The City Council allocated over a million dollars in workforce development funding. Half of that going to construction trades and the other half going to workforce development in terms of manufacturers, and other builders, and things like that. So, we’re working through that process now and we’re hoping to make sure that our workforce is on the cutting edge for what’s to come.”

Sundquist also discussed the importance of SNAP benefits and the need for the return of Essential Air Service to the Jamestown Airport with representatives.

Hear his comments on those topics and more on tonight’s Community Matters at 5:00 p.m. on 107.9 FM and streaming online at wrfalp.com

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has announced her ideas for improving nutrition and addressing food insecurity ahead of the 2023 Farm Bill.

More than 33 million people in the United States live in households that are food insecure, with roughly 2.9 million people in New York relying on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Gillibrand’s priorities to combat food insecurity and increase access to nutritious meals in the Farm Bill include strengthening SNAP benefits, expanding the SNAP program to people living in Puerto Rico, and ensuring disadvantaged populations always have a pathway to food.

Gillibrand’s announcement follows her questioning of USDA officials at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing where she pushed experts on the importance of maintaining adequate SNAP benefits, improving the SNAP Employment & Training program, improving the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, and more.

With the current legislation set to expire on September 30, 2023, Congress is working to draft a new, five-year Farm Bill with congressional hearings already underway to determine public and private stakeholders’ priorities for the reauthorization.

The Comedy Center is now part of the Museums for All program, which is administered by the Association of Children’s Museums to encourage people of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum-going habits.

The Museums for All program supports those receiving food assistance (SNAP) benefits, who can now visit the National Comedy Center and Lucy Desi Museum for a minimal fee of $2 dual admission, per person, for up to four people, with the presentation of a SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.

Similar free and reduced admission is available to eligible members of the public at more than 1,000 museums across the country.

Tickets may be purchased in advance at ComedyCenter.org, or by visiting the admissions desk at either the National Comedy Center or Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.

Earlier this month, WRFA reported that the Novo Dia Group said it will end its service by July 31, leaving about 1,700 of the more than 7,000 farmers’ markets nationwide no way to serve SNAP customers, unless a new opportunity presents itself.

The group is an Austin-based company that processes some 40 percent of SNAP transactions at farmers markets nationwide, including the one Jamestown.

Jamestown Public Market Manager Linnea Carlson recently told WRFA that the software and equipment used by the market to process SNAP payments can be now used until the end of August.

“We were fortunate enough to have so many advocates working around the country raise awareness and help this program that a non-profit stepped up to fund it through the end of August,” Carlson said.

Carlson said that while the Jamestown Market will now be able to continue processing SNAP payments through August, she and other directors across the country are hopeful a long-term solution will eventually come forward.

“The Jamestown Renaissance Corporation and other markets in the country are working diligently every day to ensure we don’t lose those benefits. We don’t want the community to feel that can’t use it. It’s business as usual and you can continue to use your SNAP benefits and Debit cards at the Jamestown Public Market,” she said.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – also known as SNAP and previous known as food stamps – allows low income residents the ability to pay for food, including fresh fruit and vegetables at participating farmers markets.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) is offering his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s 2019 Federal Budget proposal.

During a conference call with regional media on Tuesday, Chautauqua County’s representative in the House of Representatives said that he is disappointed with the budget proposal that was released on Monday because it doesn’t address the growing national debt and, if anything, it only makes it worse.

“I’m deeply disappointing in the president’s budget and I don’t have a lot of confidence in the president’s budget in regards to it being an actual cornerstone of giving us a projection to get our debt crisis under control. And that is coupled with the action that we took last week in regards to the budget gaps bill that I ultimately voted ‘no’ on because we have, in my opinion, abandoned the principle that I came here in 2010 to fight for, and that is to get our fiscal house in order and get this debt crisis under control.”

The president has proposed a $4.4 trillion federal budget that surrenders on a GOP goal of trying to eliminate the budget deficit in 10 years. It’s a concession that the big tax-cut plan enacted last year and higher spending in some areas make that impossible. Specifically, the budget sees a $984 billion deficit next year and $7 billion in new debt over the next decade.

The budget proposal also includes cuts to several domestic programs including the EPA and Medicare, but also includes an $80 million increase in defense spending. And the plan also includes a cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – previously known as food stamps – and would change the way the program is delivered to some 80 percent of recipients who receive $90 or more a month in benefits.

Under the president’s proposal, the SNAP benefits reform would involve a distribution of non perishable food packages, which the administration claims would allow lower costs because food would be purchased at wholesale prices.

Reed said the proposal is worth considering.

“That to me is a sign of being innovative and trying to be creative in getting out of one of the broken policies or structures of Washington DC, which essentially says, ‘Well we can’t do anything differently because we’ve always done it this way, we have to continue doing it this way because that’s the way we’ve always done it.’  And that mindset is strongly and institutionally ingrained in [SNAP],” Reed said.

There has already been pushback against the SNAP reform plan from advocates who say – among othert things – that it would significantly reduce the food options currently available for SNAP recipients, as well as create a layer of government bureaucracy that would dictate to poor Americans what they can and can not eat. Reed did indicate he’d be willing to learn more about the criticism before making a final decision.

“If they can establish to me that it is going to be more costly, or that it is not going to provide food to the people that need the food from our American farmers, then I’ll be open to that criticism and input,” Reed said, adding, “But I will never say ‘no.’ We’ve always been a country of ‘Yes we can’ and if there is a better way to deliver food to the people who need it most – our hungry fellow American citizens – I’m open to that.”

Overall, the number of emergency meals reported for 2013 is trending at approximately 13 percent more than the same time last year, according to data provided to the State’s Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program. Recent federal cuts to the SNAP program will eliminate a total of $302 million of annual SNAP benefits in New York. This year’s increased demand for emergency food has resulted in emergency food providers struggling to keep their shelves full.

Locally, the Wetern New York Food Bank will receive over $318,000 in additional funding while thee Chautauqua County Rural Ministry, Inc. will see over $22,000 more in funding.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Chautauqua County’s Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning), along with 216 other Republicans in the House of Representatives, voted in favor of a bill Thursday that would significantly reduce funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as the federal food stamp program. The funding cuts come by way of the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act.

According to supporters, including Reed, the bill would provide meaningful improvements to the food stamp program, which hasn’t been reformed since 1996. In all, the republican-backed measure would cut food stamp funding by $40 Billion over a 10-year period.

In a statement, Reed said the House food stamp bill refocuses the program on those who need it most, and gives individuals the tools they need to help themselves and their families become self-sufficient. 

Under the bill, all adult recipients who meet income and asset tests and are willing to comply with work requirements will continue to receive benefits. In order to comply with the work requirement, beneficiaries will participate job activities like job training or community service and volunteering opportunities.

New York’s Junior Senator in Washington Kirsten Gillibrand is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and has led the fight to preserve full food stamp funding. In response to the house vote and passage of the new food stamp bill, Gillibrand said the plan directly punishes the hungry, including children, seniors, troops and veterans. Gillibrand said she will urge her Senate colleagues to stand together and fight the cuts in conference.

The Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act is the corresponding nutrition title to the five-year Farm Bill passed through the House in July.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) is joining his Republican colleagues in the house in announcing a new bill that he says would encourage able-bodied Americans to seek work if they are also seeking assistance from the federal government’s food stamp program – now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – or “SNAP.”

On Monday, Reed said that the house this week will consider adjustments to the SNAP program and address what he believes are inadequacies in the current system. Reed says one of the highlights of the bill is an effort to encourage able-bodied adults without children or other dependents to work and seek job training activities. 

Reed says the provision, if put into place, would help reduce the amount of federal money and other resources spent on food stamps while also removing many Americans from a long-term dependence on the program.

“To me, that’s what we went to Washington to do – to downsize this Government. But also, do it in a way that recognizes there are going to be people that need that helping hand and we’re not going to talk about removing that helping hand,” Reed explained on Monday. “What we’re going to do is empower individuals through these programs so that they get back to work and they control their destinies as individuals.”

Reed says the one provision alone would end up saving the federal government an estimated $20,000,000 over ten years. If all the provisions from the Republican Bill were put into place, it could save as much as $40,000,000 over ten years.

The House was expected to vote on a nutrition title this week that reforms the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a program that has not seen any reforms since 1996.