Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: Alright, we're live. This is Santa Health and Welfare. We're back and today is three squares of Vermont Awareness Day and we have three folks in to talk about three squares. And our time is limited, so I'm gonna be careful.

[Julia Virgilus]: I see that hand, I will stop.

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: You've got it. Thank you, and thank you for being here. Appreciate it. So,

[Julia Virgilus]: my name is Julia Virgilus, and I'm a non licensed mental health counselor in Barrie, Vermont, and I'm also a person who lives with chronic health conditions like fibromyalgia. Today I'm here to share my experience and ask you to fund necessary administration costs to operate Three Scores Vermont in our state, with an additional $6,300,000 for state fiscal year 2027 to counter federal funding changes. Goal funding in Three Scores Administration is critical to make this program available for all of our eligible in Vermont. So here's my story, quickly. While I completed my master's degree in clinical mental health, I worked full time in a role where I assisted individuals in obtaining vital supports like three square foot.

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: Congratulations, that's not an easy

[Julia Virgilus]: degree. The transition from a full time pay to pay for therapeutic services has been tricky and difficult. So, went from receiving a regular biweekly paycheck, being paid one time a month. Further, I had to build a caseload of clients, which has taken some time. I'm not where I need to be financially yet, but things are looking better in the near future. I began my work full time as a therapist in June 2025. I did not receive a livable paycheck until almost October. I ended up having to max out my credit cards and use the money I had in order to pay my bills with little leftover for food or medications. This is a problem that faces many Vermonters and many Americans. That's when I applied to this Three Squares program and was approved. I'm not sure I have the words to express how important this program has been to ensuring that I have healthy food options in order to maintain my physical health and be able to be present for my clients. As a mental health professional, I understand the importance of proper nutrition and the connection to positive mental health outcomes. It is also highly linked to positive chronic health management. Without the Three program, I would have either gone without food or I would have been eating things that were not suitable for my chronic health conditions or my own mental health, thus again making it difficult to support my clients. Instead, and because of the Three Squares program, I was able to provide myself with healthy, nutritious food options that I would not have been able to afford without the help of this valuable program. While I'm still needing the support of this program, I expect to be able to receive a fully livable wage within the next few months. I think it's important to note that despite what many people believe, this program is here for people like me. The people who are trying to make their lives and their communities better, and the people who just need a little bit of help to reach their goals. Please remember that we pay for this program through our tax dollars, and it is a program that we all may need to rely on at times in our lives. I'm very grateful it was there when I needed it. I appreciate your time, and I hope that you will recommend the legislature funds necessary administration costs to operate Three Squares Vermont in our state with an additional $6,300,000 in the state fiscal year 2027 budget to counter federal funding changes. I will leave it at that. You. Thank you for leaving at that, but

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: also knowing that we're

[Julia Virgilus]: a bit of

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: a ways from our budget recommendations, but this will be on the list, I'm sure. Thank you so much for your time.

[Mariana Sears]: It's my turn.

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: Good luck.

[Mariana Sears]: Welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Nice to meet you. My name is Mariana Sears. I live in Essex Junction, and I work for Hunger Free Remote. This is my first time doing this, so I appreciate your patience. I am here to ask you that you support three requests for this fiscal year 2027. I would like, the first request is that you support the full amount to counter federal funding changes to the Three Spirits Vermont Administration, alongside the Vermont Food Bank request for 5,000,000, and North Of Vermont request for 500,000. Those requests are to support programs like ROCCASH, Farm Share, and to support the network of partners, and programs like Vermonters, Feeding Vermonters. I include these three requests because together and combined, they are like pieces of a puzzle. They ensure that we continue on the road to fit security, which is a fancy term for having the food we all want and need, just in case. I'm pretty sure that if you're in welfare, you know what it means. But just to make sure that it is as simple as just eating, eating the food that we like and want. Funding all these food programs is key because they complement each other and they ensure that people have that food that they need. In my role for Hungry Free Vermont, I've been leading a pilot project called The Food Navigators. This program brings information about Three Squares Vermont and other food programs and resources to communities of immigrants and refugees in their own language and by their own people. So the food navigators are members of their own communities, and they bring information in their own language. Combined, the five of them, they're amazing people. They wanted to be here today, but they're working, and they're engaging in their communities. They couldn't make it today. They speak nine languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, French, MayMay, Somali, Swahili, Hachto, and Arabic. Those are all communities of people living in Vermont. All these folks, including the food navigators, engage in their communities. They attend places of workshops and schools. They go shopping in their villages and towns. They are engaged. The food navigators talk to relatives, neighbors, friends, clients. Some of them are interpreters, so they are talking to clients every day in their work interpreting. And they hear feedback too from these community members. And I'm here to share that feedback on their behalf. Back in the fall, these communities faced a great deal of uncertainty. And you probably imagine around three stores from Vermont, changes also from the government shutdown. It was a fast moving and challenging landscape, and the state had to roll out changes quickly, and information was evolving real quick in real time. And we do appreciate all of the state stepping up when the benefits were not there from the federal government or for many, many of the participants. But while the state works to respond under difficult circumstances, people enrolled in the program often experience unclear or conflicting notices. And the long wait times for help was making the situation for them very stressful. And that stress turn into anxiety very quickly. Families, depending on these benefits, to supplement their food budgets, all of a sudden felt very insecure and fear. As a minimum or myself, I can tell you that it is very difficult to navigate just a simple supermarket. It's true. When you are just fine, and when nothing is going Just choosing your cheese, or your cereal. It is like a going to a master's degree program for me. And I can imagine what these families have to go through when on top of that regular uncertainty as an immigrant or someone that is navigating a new culture, on top of that, you didn't know is your paycheck, if your supplements were coming, if your benefits were coming. The navigators were telling us all about that, and we are bringing this to you. So kind of like bringing these familiar numbers a little closer to you. They also told us about the language and cultural barriers they faced when they had to visit local food channels, because people don't necessarily speak their language. And understandably, they're volunteers, they're community members. But they had to, because this was the only way for them not to go hungry. They didn't have their benefits, their support was going down, they needed to go to the food shelf. Combined with the high prices for food and other basic necessities, communities of immigrants in Vermont were, and are, clearly experiencing severe food insecurity. That is not us. With knowledge and willingness, navigators supported individuals and families and brought them closer to solutions to the available programs and resources that we are asking you today to fund, because otherwise these people will be left without support. Navigators had accompanied first timers to look at food countries. They're taking people to farmers' markets. We've been there with them. They teach people how to use crop cash and how to use the EDC card, to choose your best choice. They have sat down to sort out rules. The rules are complicated. You need more than a master's degree. You need a PhD to sort out rules. It is complicated. They've also attended events to interpret and distribute food and share relevant information so people that need information can access it in the best way for them, in their own languages. And of course, they have taken first steps to build out applications and make phone calls so that City Squares Vermont can get closer to those. And programs like CharmShare get closer to those with them. These programs are providing immigrant communities access to their food so they can lead a healthy and meaningful life. Well fed people, this is pretty obvious, but it is good to just say it. Well fed people are going to go to work, are going to go to shop, are going to have fun in their country. They're send the school the kids to school with a smile. And, yeah, we're participating in our economy. We have a beautiful state, a beautiful land. We told our mom, I am going to say,

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: we have one more person to go, and we have two minutes.

[Mariana Sears]: Perfect. I know. Know. Good. You. Go. So, yes. So we can altogether make sure that these people continue to receive the food they need they want to. So, we urge you to please fund the request for North Of Vermont, for the Vermont Food Bank, and the money to counter federal funding changes to the First Person of

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: Autumn Industry. Thank you. And that's all

[Mariana Sears]: for me. Thanks. Alicia, I can So,

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: your work during the fall and all this is going on. I'll just have some time.

[Mariana Sears]: Thank you so much. Thank you.

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: Is there someone else? Oh, we have one more question.

[Mariana Sears]: I think it was me. It was you. Yeah, Ann Cummings from Harvard, Vermont, but I don't, I'm the, 10 list, you all

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: have questions that I can help you with. I think we're good, and as I said before, this is really important testimony for as we get into our budget decisions here, the policy related budget decisions that go down the hall. Thank you for your work. Thank you all for being here today. Appreciate it.

[Mariana Sears]: You so much. Thank you

[Sen. Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chair)]: for your You take care. Thank you. We're that's a wrap for today. We're gonna do a

[Mariana Sears]: for us.