On July 22, 2021

Vermont Everyone Eats funding extended through September

Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE), the innovative Covid-19 response program that provides meal assistance to Vermonters in need while supporting local restaurants, farmers and food producers, has received an extension to continue programming. Program managers had previously anticipated that the program would end on June 30, but the state has extended the program contract recognizing that many Vermonters continue to face exacerbated food insecurity due to the Covid-19 economic crisis.

The program is now expected to continue through September, contingent on the need and available funding.

Even as Vermont celebrates its high vaccination rate and the lifting of state pandemic restrictions, residents and local businesses continue to face pandemic-related crises. Many Vermonters are navigating the confusing maze of shifting conditions and resources like the ending of the eviction moratorium, changing housing assistance, reduced unemployment benefits, SNAP eligibility, and school meals programs. To help families, restaurants, and farmers continue to cope with the lingering impacts of Covid-19, Everyone Eats has been extended.

Steve Geller, executive director of SEVCA, VEE’s administering agency, spoke for everyone who made the program possible, when he said, “SEVCA, the VEE staff, the statewide Task Force, and the regional ‘community hubs’ that have delivered the meals, are all relieved and delighted that we now have three more months to provide this incredible benefit to so many Vermonters.  Despite the positive news about the reduced Covid risk and our growing economy, the negative effects of this crisis are still impacting many individuals and businesses in our state, and this will give them the additional resources and time they need to recover.”

The program is anticipated to ramp down, with the volume of meals decreasing over the next few months as, hopefully, community food security stabilizes. Meals are still available in all 14 Vermont counties through a variety of distribution channels. For more information about the program or how to receive a meal, please visit vteveryoneeats.org.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Message delivered

February 12, 2025
Late last week, House Republicans banded together to vote against the annual midyear Budget Adjustment Act. The BAA, often a noncontroversial shifting of state funds between various accounts to address changes in budget actuals, included several policy issues that proved problematic for Republicans. Extending the winter rules for Vermont’s hotel assistance program to June 30…

Legislative update: looking ahead

February 12, 2025
Many of you have been in touch about the unprecedented actions being taken by our new President and those he has deputized. In addition to the scores of emails I’ve had from constituents, Montpelier was the focus of a huge demonstration on Wednesday, Feb. 5, protesting the actions taken by the Trump Administration targeting USAID,…

Feds pause Killington’s $25m RAISE grant

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Killington was awarded a $25 million federal RAISE grant  with an additional $1 million local match to reconstruct Killington Road but those funds are now suspended per President Trump’s executive order to pause all funding for programs that include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), Killington Town Planner Lisa Davis Lewis told the…

State’s Education Transformation Proposal, including aschool choice lottery for all, is met with mixed reviews

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal would allow every student to opt into a school choice lottery system within their regional school district.  Testimony from Education Secretary Zoie Saunders in the House Education Committee, Thursday, Feb. 6, was the first public explanation of how school choice would work in Scott’s “transformation” plan. “It’s very provocative,”…