Where is the $5 million Gov. Andy Beshear ordered to food banks going?
Gov. Andy Beshear ordered $5 million in state dollars to go to food banks late last week as the future of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding was in doubt.
But where, exactly, did the money go?
The governor’s office and officials with Feeding Kentucky, a nonprofit with a network of seven food banks providing food and groceries to Kentuckians in all 120 counties, offered some clarity Monday afternoon.
All the money went to Feeding Kentucky, which controlled the distribution to the food banks. Melissa McDonald, the group’s executive director, said the food banks should have the money now.
“Their estimated time to spend it is as soon as possible. None of them have said that they already have it spent, but I have talked to two of my of our partner food banks, and they said that they have already gone through their budget, and they know exactly what they’re going to be able to purchase, and they’ll be able to get that immediately ordered once the money lands in their account,” McDonald said.
The bulk of the money, McDonald said, went to the two largest food banks of the seven: God’s Pantry in Lexington and Feeding America Kentucky Heartland in Elizabethtown.
The other food banks, in order of people served, are Dare to Care in Louisville, Freestore Food Bank in Cincinnati; Tri-State Food Bank in Evansville, Indiana; Purchase Area Development District in Mayfield; and Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington, West Virginia. All told, these seven food banks have nearly 900 local partner agencies— food pantries, soup kitchens, and community programs — per Beshear’s office.
The breakdown of the funding to each of the seven food banks is determined by a formula from Feeding America that takes into account both the population and the number of food insecure individuals within a food bank’s service area.
The extra $5 million came in response to uncertainty over SNAP, also known as food stamps, which the administration of President Donald Trump was signaling it would not fund due to the ongoing government shutdown. After a court ruled that it must preserve the program, the administration announced Monday that SNAP recipients would receive about half as much as normal for the month of November.
McDonald said the $5 million from the state was a “nice, big surprise,” but its benefit for hungry families pales in comparison to restoring full funding for SNAP.
“The sustainability of this is all going to depend on the federal government. Our big push is to make sure that SNAP is funded. We really want to make sure that we get the message out that we’ve got to have SNAP funded. SNAP provides nine meals for the one meal that a food bank can provide, and so the food banks are not to come in and fill a gap. They’re not to be the replacement, because they don’t have the capability to do that,” McDonald said.
She also said the parameters for how food banks can spend the money are strict yet simple: Just buy food.
“One-hundred percent of it is to be distributed from Feeding Kentucky to our food banks, and then our food banks are to purchase food. It’s not to be used for other purchases or to be able to utilize for administrative (costs),” McDonald said.
Though budgetary matters are most commonly the realm of the state legislature, Beshear diverted the funds via an emergency order last week.
A spokesperson for Kentucky Senate Republicans did not offer comment on Beshear’s move. A spokesperson for Kentucky House Republicans did not respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 7:20 AM.
