ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – Senator Mark Warner visited the Feeding Southwest Virginia headquarters in Salem on Saturday, where he helped donate over 1,000 pounds of food collected at the women’s conference he hosted earlier in the day.
At Feeding Southwest, he sat with community leaders, city officials, and regional school administrators to discuss food insecurity.
He applauded the efforts of local programs working to feed those in need. Still, he emphasized that amid a changing presidential administration, local organizations cannot stop hunger independently without the help of federal programs like SNAP.
“If [SNAP] gets cut, a whole lot of neighbors, some folks that you may not know are food insecure are going to go hungry,” Warner said. “I don’t think most Virginians want their neighbors going hungry.”
Those in attendance at the afternoon roundtable got the chance to pitch their ideas and experiences for Warner to take back to the Senate floor.
Earlier in the day, Warner toured Melrose Plaza, where the newly opened Market at Melrose ended a decades-long food desert in Northwest Roanoke.