West Virginia Public Broadcasting, West Virginia News – A single road connects Shannondale and its roughly 3,000 residents to the rest of Jefferson County. The rural community flanks West Virginia’s easternmost border, fixed between the Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge Mountains. That makes for breathtaking waterside vistas, but one heck of a grocery commute.
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Shannondale is home to just two convenience stores, neither of which regularly sells fresh produce. For low-income residents, the terrain and limited local options can exacerbate barriers to food access that affect the state at large. Even in the state’s wealthiest county, many folks in rural communities struggle to foot their grocery bills.
That is where the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) comes in. The federally funded program lets states subsidize food purchase costs for residents in need. Last year, roughly one-sixth of the state’s populace bought food using SNAP dollars.
