I am very upset that the state’s Healthy Incentives Program was cut dramatically. The program has been extremely successful in helping hungry people get healthy fresh produce and at the same time benefiting small farmers.

News about the large increase in hunger in the state has appeared frequently in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Statistics from the Amherst Survival Center document the growth in food insecurity. At a time when COVID assistance has been cut in programs that help the poor and hungry and an administration is coming in that doesn’t make hungry and poor people a priority, why would the state choose to lower the HIP benefits? “It wasn’t in the budget,” I heard.

Money can be found. This needs to be addressed and fixed.

Bernadette Jones

Amherst