By Maxwell Howard
TRAVERSE CITY — Suzanne McAtee has attended classes through Munson Hospital’s Fruit and Vegetables Prescription Program since they began five years ago.
At 93, she credits the program — in which doctors prescribe diet education as treatment for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure — with helping her manage her health.
“I have stage-five kidney disease. My next step is dialysis,” McAtee said. “I have controlled this through my diet, which is very important to me, and that’s the other reason I pay particular attention to everything I eat.”
Come month’s end, the class may not exist.
The class is led for free by educators in the federally funded SNAP-Education program, which partners with more than 33,000 organizations nationwide to promote healthy eating, physical activity and food access. In Michigan, two agencies — Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan Fitness Foundation — operate SNAP-Ed programs in schools, senior centers and food pantries.
Congress slashed funding for SNAP-Ed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act earlier this year. More than 120 MSU Extension health educators will lose their jobs across Michigan this month, and the Michigan Fitness Foundation is sunsetting some of its programs into next year.
Michigan Congressman Jack Bergman, who supported the cuts in May, did not respond to a request for comment. In an email to constituents, he said that while SNAP-Ed was “commendable,” results were disappointing, citing rising childhood obesity. According to the Ballard Center for Social Impact, the rate of childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s.
Sarah Eichberger, a Traverse City SNAP-Ed educator, disagreed that was proof SNAP-Ed failed. Rather, she said, it shows how large the American health crisis is.
“How can you now say one underfunded federal nutrition program is responsible for not making our entire country healthy?” Eichberger said. “We live in a country where there are systems and structures that prevent people from being healthy.”
Of the SNAP-Ed budget — $536 million in fiscal year 2025 — Michigan received $27 million and relied on that funding more than any state of its size. Only California, New York and Pennsylvania received more.
In 2024, MSU Extension’s SNAP-Ed program reached more than 115,000 people across Michigan, with national outreach serving millions of low-income Americans.
Much of SNAP-Ed’s work, according to Eichberger, is behind the scenes, like securing grants for its 1,000 community partners. Those partnerships helped stretch the budget and reach more people.
Two years ago, Eichberger helped launch a program to deliver boxes of locally grown fruits and vegetables to daycares in 32 counties. That initiative, funded through outside grants, relied on SNAP-Ed staff working with child care providers to offer expertise and support.
The loss of SNAP-Ed, Eichberger said, is not just health and nutrition classes going away. It’s the loss of a network of people and partnerships working to create healthier systems and programs.
While the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again movement — which has focused on banning red food dyes and encouraging the fast food chain Steak ‘n Shake to switch from seed oil to beef tallow — has made headlines, Eichberger said SNAP-Ed’s work to promote fresh fruits, vegetables and exercise is even more important.
“If you can get people to be healthier, if you can prevent Type 2 diabetes, heart disease… that’s so much more impactful than some of these things the conversation has been moving more towards,” Eichberger said.
The loss of SNAP-Ed is part of a larger trend of public health cuts. That includes new work requirements for Medicaid, cuts to SNAP’s food assistance program, and delays in CDC funding that forced local agencies to lay off staff. Eichberger worries about long-term effects, especially as fewer people will have access to food stamps and health care.
“Less people are going to be able to access food stamps. There’ll be less access (to) health care coverage,” Eichberger said. “We haven’t fully seen the impact yet… but it will be significant.”
Patti Tibaldi, project manager for SNAP-Ed at Traverse City Area Public Schools through the Michigan Fitness Foundation, had to let go of four staff members when funding was cut earlier this year. She may be able to bring them back if new funding becomes available.
The USDA recently opened a new grant for SNAP-Ed programs, although with reduced funding. The grant is meant to sunset the program, Tibaldi said, and will only last until next summer. Many organizations, she said, have chosen not to pursue it.
For now, Tibaldi and the few remaining SNAP-Ed programs are waiting to see if they have just one year left.
“We’re going to try to hang in there — whatever little thing we can do to help these families and the kids,” Tibaldi said. “I think it’s very shortsighted to lose the focus on how important it is for kids and families to learn healthy habits.”
This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Project, led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio, and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.
