The Trump administration’s cuts to SNAP are sending an estimated 130,000 vulnerable Virginians off the food subsidy program. A network of nearly 100 food pharmacies in Virginia is struggling to fill the gap – and provide families with healthy produce and food.
By Elizabeth McGowan
Photography by Carolyn Van Houten
On a boiling hot August afternoon, Judith pops into the Free Clinic of Culpeper days before her regular checkup because she feels “a little off.”
On a boiling hot August afternoon, Judith pops into the Free Clinic of Culpeper days before her regular checkup because she feels “a little off.”
An abnormal blood test reveals she is wise to trust her instincts. Still, the staffer on duty assures Judith there is no need to panic—if she balances eating well with taking the prescriptions that regulate her diabetes and high cholesterol.
“Phew,” utters the slender 74-year-old. As a patient since 2018, she is aware that not all medicine comes in vials. That’s why she eagerly follows medical assistant Michelle Rojo to a corner room stacked with cans of meat, beans and fruit, and containers of low-fat milk and yogurt, oatmeal, rice, pasta and more.
“Our patients are like family to us,” Rojo says about the clinic’s food-is-medicine mantra. “We know their stories, their struggles and why it’s hard to change eating and exercising habits. Some just need a little push when they fall off the wagon.”