It was important to resolve the federal budget knowing that there are hundreds of families who rely on the SNAP program to put food on their table every night.

But it should be a challenge to everyone we elect at the local, state and national levels to double our efforts to decrease poverty in Chautauqua County when one considers exactly how much money the SNAP program brings into Chautauqua County.

Carmelo Hernandez, county commissioner of Mental Hygiene Services, told county lawmakers $1.2 million worth of SNAP benefits were distributed on Nov. 10 and another $2.7 million worth of SNAP benefits were distributed on Nov. 12 to county residents. That’s $3.9 million that is sorely needed in Chautauqua County.

Roughly 17% of the county’s population lives in poverty – about 20,700 county residents – while 23.4% of children in the county live below the poverty line. On the plus side, the child poverty rate has declined 9.6% from 2014 to 2025.

That’s a lot of Chautauqua County residents who are left to the whims of the federal government. We noted recently in this space that it’s not possible for churches, non-profits or the Good Samaritans among us to permanently fill in the gap left when SNAP funding went away. That hasn’t changed. So, while the memory of this most recent government shutdown is still fresh, elected officials at all levels should be considering ways to lessen our reliance on the SNAP program.

Too many people qualify for SNAP benefits. We need better-paying jobs to help lift more county residents out of poverty. We need good housing at a lower cost that people can afford so they aren’t looking for social services help to make ends meet. And, we need legislative action to make it easier for those who receive benefits like SNAP to move off of the benefits programs as they earn more money rather than be removed entirely.

The government shutdown should serve as a wakeup call. We need to reduce the reliance of so many U.S. citizens on SNAP benefits – and that work should begin now.