Last Updated: 2:56 p.m.
Flagler County government will be appropriating $50,000 to be split among the county’s food banks, based on the volume of clients they serve, county officials announced this morning on Flagler Broadcasting’s Food-A-Thon.
County Commissioner Kim Carney made the announcement alongside County Administrator Heidi Petito and Deputy County Administrator Percy Sayles.
The commission has not voted on the $50,000 at this point, “but she has consensus to donate $50,000,” Carney said of the administrator. Petito called the commissioners Thursday evening to get their input.
Petito has the authority to spend up to $100,000 on county appropriations without the approval of the County Commission. The $50,000 would temporarily be drawn from various funds until Petito seeks commission approval on Nov. 17 to reimburse the money with $50,000 drawn from the county’s reserves, as an emergency. Petito contacted commissioners to inform them of the agenda item, as the agenda was being finalized.
“One of the core priorities of our strategic plan is public health and safety,” Petito was quoted as saying in a release. “This emergency response reflects Flagler County’s compassion and commitment to helping our neighbors in need. I’m proud of our team’s generosity and proud to stand behind this funding decision.” The administrator in an interview said she will monitor the SNAP situation in coming weeks to decide how best to respond. “We definitely need to keep an eye on this and be mindful of what’s happening elsewhere. It’s important for us,” Petito said, to “be able to step in where we’re needed to be able to commit to helping them.” A list of eligible food pantries will be made available in coming days.
The appropriation follows in the wake of the St. Johns County Commission on Tuesday voting to appropriate $200,000 in emergency funds, out of the county’s $20 million reserve, to local food banks, and to suspend disconnecting utility customers who are behind in their payments, at least through November.
The measures are in response to the government shutdown, which has stopped the distribution of food stamps, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program money, to 2.9 million Floridians, including about 11,000 residents in Flagler County, or 7.4 percent of the county’s households.
“We should never politicize food insecurity. The Bible reminds us that the Lord loves a cheerful giver,” County Commissioner Leann Pennington said. “This is not a time to judge those who are in need, but a time to love generously, and lift up our neighbors with grace and humility.”
Flagler County’s $50,000 set-aside is in addition to the $8,000 the County Commission approves in contributions to Grace Community Food Pantry annually, and in addition to a $3,600 contribution from Flagler County employees. “Commissioners, employees, everybody pulled together and came up with that for the food pantry,” Commission Chair Andy Dance said. “Especially now.”
Palm Coast City Manager Lauren Johnston in an interview today said the city has been working with community partners such as Flagler Cares, the social services coordinating non-profit, and Volusia Flagler United Way, on such things as utility cut-offs “for quite some time, even before the shutdown,” on a case-by-case basis. There’s been a lot of “neighbors helping neighbors,” Johnston said. When people call in with a problem, the city attempts to work out a solution.
When the council next meets on Nov. 18, Johnston said, “as we continue to see challenges in our community, I most certainly can ask council what they would like to do and leave that policy decision up to them.”
Two federal courts have ordered the Trump administration to continue making SNAP payments with ample emergency funds set aside for the purpose. “This should never happen in America,” Rhode Island District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said of the potential hunger crisis as he rejected the administration’s argument that it could not tap the money. “Faced with a choice between advancing relief and entrenching delay, it chose the latter — an outcome that predictably magnifies harm and undermines the very purpose of the program it administers,” the judge wrote of the administration.
The administration immediately appealed.
Flagler Broadcasting’s Food-A-Thon is not related to the county’s appropriation. The Food-A-Thon’s goal is a separate $100,000 to help Grace Community Food Pantry, the largest of the food banks in the county, with some 6,500 families served every month. Petito said there are five or six food pantries in the county. By afternoon, the Food-A-Thon hgad raised more than $80,000.
Numerous local officials–county, cities, constitutional officers–have made personal and significant monetary contributions to the Food-A-Thon, which underlines the fact that every dollar contributed may be leveraged into $5 worth of food. So a $100,000 haul will allow Grace Community to buy half a million dollars’ worth.
Sheriff Rick Staly (who, with his wife Debbie, personally contributed $2,000), had a surprise for Flagler Broadcasting President David Ayres as Ayres was anchoring the first hour of the Food-A-Thon this morning on WNZF: “The drug dealers of Flagler County don’t have a choice when we seize their profits,” Staly said on the air. “But I can’t think of a better way for it to go. So the drug dealers through the sheriff’s office forfeiture fund are going to donate $5,000.”
“All right, we love our drug dealers here,” Ayres said. “Pass on our appreciation to them.”
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris donated $3,000 of his own.
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