Suzanne McAtee has attended the classes offered through Munson Hospital’s Fruit and Vegetables Prescription Program since they began five years ago.
At 93, she credits the program — through which doctors prescribe diet education as a 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.”
This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, a project led by Interlochen Public Radio and Bridge Michigan, and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.
Come month’s end, the class may not exist.
The class is led for free by educators who are part of the federally funded SNAP-Education program, which partners with more than 33,000 organizations nationwide to promote healthy eating, physical activity, and better food access. In Michigan, two agencies — Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan Fitness Foundation — operate SNAP-Ed programs in places such as 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 in the process of 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 the SNAP-Ed initiative was “commendable,” the results were disappointing, citing rising childhood obesity rates. 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 that was proof SNAP-Ed programs failed. Rather, she said, that highlights how large the American health crisis really 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 other state of its size — with only California, New York and Pennsylvania receiving more funding.
In 2024, the MSU Extension’s SNAP-Ed program reached more than 115,000 people across Michigan, with national SNAP-Ed outreach serving millions of low-income Americans.
Much of the work done by SNAP-Ed, according to Eichberger, is behind the scenes, like securing grants for its 1,000 community partners. Those partnerships allowed the program to stretch its budget further and reach more people.
How can you now say one underfunded federal nutrition program is responsible for not making our entire country healthy? We live in a country where there are systems and structures that prevent people from being healthy.SNAP-Ed educator Sarah Eichberger
Two years ago, Eichberger helped launch a program to deliver boxes of locally grown fruits and vegetables to daycares across 32 counties. That initiative, made possible through outside grants, relied on the network of SNAP-Ed staff working directly with child care providers to offer expertise and support.
The loss of SNAP-Ed, Eichberg said, is not just health and nutrition classes going away. It’s the loss of an entire network of people and partnerships working to create healthy systems and programs.
While the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again movement — which has focused on banning red food dyes and encouraged the fast food restaurant Steak ‘n Shake to switch from frying its food in seed oil to beef tallow — has made headlines, Eichberger said the work SNAP-Ed does to promote a healthy diet of fresh fruit and vegetables along with 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,” said Eichberger.
The loss of SNAP-Ed is part of a larger trend of cuts to public health funding. That includes increased work requirements for Medicaid and cuts to SNAP’s food assistance program through the Big, Beautiful Bill, along with long enough delays in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding that local agencies have had to lay off staff. Eichberger worries about the long-term effects, especially as fewer people will have access to food stamps and health care coverage.
“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, the 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. However, she may be able to bring them back if new funding becomes available.
The US Department of Agriculture 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, Tibaldi said, have chosen not to pursue it.
For now, Tibalidi and the few remaining SNAP-Ed programs are waiting to find out about that USDA grant — and 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,” said Tibaldi. “I think it's very shortsighted to lose the focus on how important it is for kids and families to learn healthy habits.”
