LEXINGTON, Ky. — Nicky Stacy started the Hazel Green Food Project in Wolfe County, and now helps feed people from 35 counties, some of the poorest in the nation.

Thirty-one percent of people in Wolfe County receive benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; in nearby Owsley, it’s 37%. Stacy serves 2,000 households a week.

But as of Saturday, no one in those counties will receive their SNAP benefits. That’s because of the federal government shutdown, and the Trump administration’s refusal to use contingency funds to keep benefits flowing.

Stacy knows the faces of hunger — she sees them every day. That’s why she’s calling on Gov. Andy Beshear to call a special session to use some of Kentucky’s massive $3.7 billion rainy day fund to help folks out.

“When SNAP is cut, the only ones hurting are children,” she wrote Wednesday in a message to Beshear, which she also filmed for a video that’s been seen by 20,000 people and shared more than 600 times.

“Hunger is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a moral issue,” Stacy said. “We urge you to please call a special session and get our representatives back to Frankfort and declare a state of emergency.”

Beshear’s office has not responded to Stacy, nor did anyone from there respond to the Herald-Leader’s calls for comment.

Two of Kentucky’s largest food organizations, God’s Pantry and Feeding Kentucky, declined to comment on a special session. But Jason Bailey, director of the Kentucky Center on Economic Policy, said Beshear and the legislature should tap the state’s reserve fund as the loss of SNAP benefits will affect 600,000 Kentuckians, many of them children and the elderly.

“If the President and Congress are not going to act, we must,” he said. “A rainy day fund is for rainy days, and this is a downpour for one in eight Kentuckians (who receive SNAP). The money is there to easily fund November benefits, and it would be cruel and irresponsible not to.”

Stacy’s state representative agrees. Rep. Timmy Truett, R-McKee, says he thinks there’s widespread agreement from his colleagues they could fix the problem in a couple of days.

“That rainy day fund is to be used when there is a rainy day, and I can’t think of a day any rainier than today,” Truett said. “We have some of our most vulnerable people going without food. I believe if we got called in we could fix the problem pretty quick.”

Truett is also the principal of McKee Elementary, where he sees children face food insecurity all the time.

“I see every day the effects of kids not getting food — it’s one of the most important things we can do,” he said. “I hope the federal government will open up, but I myself, as a representative, I am willing to go back into session until our federal legislators get everything lined up. The legislature is waiting to help the government any time he needs help.”

Rep. Richard White, R-Morehead, also said he thought a special session should be called. “Yes, I think most of us support that decision,” he said.

Gov. Beshear has joined a lawsuit of 25 other state attorneys general and governors against the Trump administration after it announced it would not tap a $5 billion federal contingency fund.

“The sad part about this is there are emergency funds that are right there. All the Trump administration has to do is say we’re going to use them,” Beshear said at a press conference Tuesday. “In fact, the Trump administration is talking about providing Argentina a $20 billion bailout during a government shutdown, but won’t provide SNAP benefits food assistance for our own people. That’s not very America first.”

November benefits would cost about $106 million for Kentucky, but it’s not clear if the state would be reimbursed for them. State House and Senate Republican leaders have declined to comment on the commonwealth’s rainy day fund, which they have been building up in anticipation of further cuts in the income tax.

On Thursday, Beshear said his administration was looking at a number of options, but he did not think a special session would be “necessary.” He said the Trump administration had blocked states from putting state dollars into the federal SNAP platform, so alternatives would have to be found.

Beshear also said there was a hearing in the SNAP lawsuit today, and he hoped it would go their way. He also announced a Team Kentucky initiative to collect food around the state for food banks to distribute.

“I know this is a scary and stressful time for many of our families,” he said. “We want to help in any way we can ... but the federal government needs to step up.”

Democrats blame Republicans for refusing to use contingency funds, while Republicans blame Democrats for the government shutdown.

This is a costly game of chicken that is going to hurt people those politicians will never see. But Stacy will.

The Hazel Green Food Project is already serving an increase in clients as federal workers have gone without paychecks during the shutdown.

“It’s time to put Kentucky first, it is time to take care of our home base,” she said in an interview. “We’re not worried about what’s going in Washington — we’re worried about our kids, who are going to be hurting. There’s not going to be any hope for these kids. We need results now.”

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