Last week, I joined Ohio Governor candidate Amy Acton on her listening tour across Ohio.
At one of our stops, in rural Ohio (Adams County), a volunteer of a local food pantry described how busy that food bank has been of late, and how it’s running out of food because of federal cuts.
So yesterday, I drove to the town where the food bank is—Manchester, Ohio—which I featured in my book Laboratories of Autocracy and have written about here, to see it for myself.
And in the video above, I not only explain what I learned, but I also show you the continued disastrous condition of Manchester—dilapidated buildings, broken windows, and people living in an empty building, under a mattress, and under a tarp/paneling, all within 50 feet of the food pantry.
Squeezed
The food pantry itself is doing heroic work to help those in need. The dedicated staff and volunteers—aided by donations from local churches, Kroger, and some grant funding—are doing what they can. And they were nice enough to show me their basic operation and answer my questions.
So here’s what I learned:
People generally come by the food bank once their SNAP benefits run out. So later in the month, as food support from SNAP runs out for families, the busier they get. Needless to say, the fact that the current federal budget (passed the House, now in the Senate) would cut SNAP benefits by $300 billion—the largest cut in the program’s history—will drive demand up.
Coincidentally, the Columbus Dispatch wrote a story on this issue yesterday—not only does the House budget bill make those devastating cuts, but it shifts the burden to states. The impact? “[S]lashing the entitlement program would threaten the main access to food for nearly 1.5 million Ohioans and put a heavier burden on food banks,” just as the staff described to me would happen.
But higher demand and looming SNAP cuts are just the first problem this and other shelters face. Despite the donations they get, by far the lion’s share of the food they buy and distribute is paid for by federal grants. Specifically, those grants come from the Emergency Food and Shelter Grant program administered by FEMA. And amid all the havoc in DC at the moment, one thing that’s happened is that FEMA’s emergency grant program (and $130 million) has been suspended. Which means this food pantry is currently spending through its prior funds, and distributing the food it had previously bought, with no idea if it will get funds down the road to replenish that food.
So think about the squeeze they face: looming cuts from SNAP will spike demand; while the funds the pantry uses to buy food to meet that demand are suspended.
As one of my guides said—not at all politically, just matter of fact—things are about to get “much worse.”
“The Hope That’s Fading Fast”
And that was just the beginning of our conversation. We also talked about all the other challenges in the area. The decline of Manchester over the decades. The loss of the town’s main employer. The drug overdoses that continue (the pantry keeps its own supply of Narcan).
To capture what’s happening, here’s a poem one of the volunteers (who used to be a client) wrote and posted on the wall of the food pantry:
Wow. Every word.
We went out the pantry’s pack door, where they showed me the places where people sleep within 100 feet or so:
In this abandoned building…
Under this mattress…
And under this paneling… the man who lives here is a “very nice guy”
And along the way, we talked about the fact that Ohio’s budget will be giving out more big tax cuts at the top (nothing trickling down to Manchester), while shipping $600 million to fund a sports stadium in Cleveland…all while the people of Manchester are living in these conditions with no help in sight.
And….as she reminded me three times….things are about to get “worse.”
Cue Ohio Senator Jon Husted
Life is funny sometimes.
Because wouldn’t you know it?
The night before my visit to this food pantry, my family somehow ended up on a list called to join newly minted Ohio Senator Husted’s tele-townhall meeting. I listened in for 45 minutes. And yes, the level of disingenuous BS was truly nauseating. Husted must’ve said the words “big beautiful bill” 10 times as he extolled it—even denying to one caller that it would increase the deficit.
But as it happened, his most cynical answer by far came regarding—you guessed it—food insecurity and SNAP.
A woman, nearly in tears, said she had been cut off from food assistance. And she explained that she had been told by someone it was because of “illegals.”
To be clear, under federal law, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for SNAP benefits. So if this woman was told that, it was false.
Of course, Husted did not explain that to her. He went along with the narrative. As I recall, he pivoted back to the budget bill, and told her how it would cut off undocumented immigrants from Medicaid. (As with food stamps, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid).
But what he, of course, didn’t own up to was that the bill he was touting as “big” and “beautiful” and “historic” will cut SNAP more than anytime in the program’s history. Indeed “historic,” but in the worst way.
Which means that Husted—although he would never admit it—is himself the greatest actual threat to this caller’s food security, and that of the people I saw in Adams County.
Hearing that dishonest exchange with a faux public servant only a day before watching true public servants working so hard to help people was indeed jarring.
To the staff and volunteers I met yesterday, thank you.
You reminded me that there remain so many good people in this world.
And that we must work to get you, the people you serve, and communities like Manchester all over the nation, the support that you need.
Day 200 — June 10, 2025
Donald Trump threatened that protesters—simply protesters—will be met with “heavy force”—
Speaking of, I’ll be protesting Saturday here in Cincinnati. Where will you be?
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