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The leaders of SHARE and End 68 Hours of Hunger, two local programs committed to reducing hunger and strengthening the community’s safety net, presented to a full room at the Amherst Democrats’ monthly meeting on November 19, 2025, at the Amherst Town Library.

     “We invited the two local assistance programs because of the relevance to the recent federal SNAP program emergency and the proximity to Thanksgiving,” said Dan Veilleux, Chair of the Amherst Democrats and Amherst State Representative. “While many will gather around full tables, too many of our neighbors still struggle to put food on theirs. This was an important opportunity to learn how we can support local efforts to reduce hunger and strengthen our community’s safety net.”

     Christine Janson, the Executive Director of SHARE in Milford, said the agency provides local families with food and other types of support, with the program’s overarching goal “to promote self-reliance while maintaining the dignity of clients.”  In 1979, SHARE began as a program of Milford’s St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, offering food to those in need and that basic service continues today with its most common offering — a week’s worth of groceries for each client  (either families or individuals) that can be ordered on line through the program’s website. 

     Janson said, “The demand for SHARE services is skyrocketing and we’re not bringing in enough to keep up with the demand.”  Not only has the need for food tripled in recent years since the pandemic and runaway inflation — groceries for more than 125 families a week up from the pre-pandemic demand of about 40 per week — but requests for help with rent, utility bills, car repairs, medical bills, and other forms of support continue to escalate rapidly. 

     Serving Milford, Amherst, Brookline, Mont Vernon and Wilton, SHARE is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization, nearly all volunteer-driven. Its budget has doubled from $600,000 in 2020 to $1.2 million in 2025. Its greatest source of support is largely from individuals’ contributions, followed by some support from foundations and organizations, some towns’ social services departments, and fund raising — with no aid from the federal government.

     When Amherst State Representative Megan Murray asked if Janson is seeing that the tightening of federal programs has affected SHARE’s work, Jansen said, “Definitely,” adding, “So many things are wrong with this picture. The safety net is so tattered. We didn’t expect [the situation meant] we weren’t going to feed people.”

     Janson cited issues that drive people to seek SHARE’s support — ongoing poverty, unexpected expenses, disabilities, inadequate SNAP benefits, increasing mental illness, recent unemployment, and domestic violence causing a financial crisis. Rising numbers of evictions may be leading to more unhoused people, younger and older. Seniors may be relying on very limited retirement benefits.  Some clients have simply no family or friends to support them.

      The best way to support SHARE is to make a financial donation, said Jansen.  Food and clothing donations can also be made at the SHARE Center during open hours (generally Monday through Friday 8:30-4:30), at local churches, or at bins in Milford Shaw’s and Market Basket.  For those interested in volunteering, call the SHARE office at 603-673-9898 or email Mary Anne Carignan, Volunteer Coordinator at maryanne.carignan@sharenh.org.

       Ending Hours of Hunger, presented by Jenn Morton, Nashua Program Director, is a 501(c)(3) charity that targets NH children and children in some towns in other states whose families do not have enough food at home.  Identified by school staff, usually teachers, children receive a bag of non-perishable food on Thursdays or Fridays to prevent hunger from the time they leave school for the weekend until the Monday morning breakfast at school – hence, the 68 hours. Bags provide more than 7 meals and a few snacks.

     “Without the weekend nourishment,” said Morton, “children may be ill, have difficulty concentrating, and may be disruptive.”  With the program’s weekend meals, the behaviors of food insecure children disappear, and they arrive in school on Monday ready to learn.

     Thirty-plus towns in New Hampshire, from Conway to Portsmouth to Hinsdale, run a chapter of the all-volunteer program, feeding 2700 of the state’s children each weekend.

    More than 100 children in Amherst have been identified as potential clients for the program.

    The need for the agency is similar to SHARE situations.  Morton said, “The program faces a number of challenges in this political climate: rising food prices, less food provided by the US Department of Agriculture, and the government shutdown which led to the suspension of the SNAP benefits, which added demand for 60 more bags in Nashua alone.”   According to Morton, the number of children served is rapidly rising: in 2016 in Nashua alone, one-hundred and twenty-five bags were distributed; as of November 20, that number was 468.

     The program, begun in NH in 2011, is funded entirely by donations and a few grants, with the key sources being the NH Food Bank, Catholic Charities, Feeding America, food drives and donations from grocery store customers.  In 2024, the program provided more than $120,000 to feed the children and received more than $60,000 worth of donated food, but there is always greater demand, Morton added.  The program also bridges gaps in meals and nutrition by working in tandem with the Nashua Soup Kitchen.  

     A large bag will be distributed for Thanksgiving, Morton said, and FaceBook is the best way to learn of their changing food needs.  Donate or volunteer here: End 68 Hours of Hunger

For more information about the programs, visit sharenh.org and End 68 Hours of Hunger.


Background notes:

“In 2023, the most recent data available, 33.6 million adults and 13.8 million children — including nearly 2 million children under 3 years old — lived in food-insecure households, meaning more than 1 in 8 households (13.5 percent) in the U.S. had difficulty acquiring food due to lack of resources.” From https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/nearly-2-million-young-children-in-the-us-lived-in-food-insecure#_ftn1.  Source of research: Matthew P. Rabbitt et al., “Household Food Security in the United States in 2023,” USDA Economic Research Service, September 2024.


According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 76,900 Granite Staters rely on SNAP — within that figure, 47,678 are children (as reported in The Nashua Telegraph,  https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/2025/11/08/local-food-insecurity-skyrockets-with-loss-of-snap-funding/), Nov 8, 2025.