The two addressed a crowd in the eastern panhandle of the state, alongside state legislators, MAHA advocates, and children.
“There’s no way around it, West Virginia ranks at the bottom of many public health metrics,” Morrisey said, citing obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and life expectancy statistics. But the steps he announced would change this direction, he said.
He laid out a four-pillar plan to improve health outcomes in the state, including encouraging West Virginians to get out and walk more and implementing stronger work requirements for federal assistance programs to incentivize work.
On the food side, Morrisey also signed one of the first state bans on food dyes in school meals, as well as a letter of intent to request a waiver from the federal government to ban soda purchases under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Kennedy said the state was setting “a shining example for the rest of the country” with these actions.
“It’s just wild that we are literally surrounded by farmlands. We are functionally sitting on farmlands, and people don’t have food.”
A year and a half later, Caitlin Ware is unconvinced. Sitting inside the Sandyville United Methodist Church, where she’s a part-time pastor, Ware held up a bottle, swirling dirty, sediment-tainted water inside.
“Can we ban this dye?” She asked wryly. “This isn’t food dye, obviously. This is just tap water in McDowell County.”
When she’s not pastoring in Sandyville, Ware also works in the southern coalfields region of the state, where clean water access has been a critical issue for decades, due to decaying pipes and infrastructure. In fact, West Virginia had the highest rate of public water systems with Safe Drinking Water Act violations from the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the Gazette-Mail.
Ware said most SNAP participants in the region use their benefits to purchase bottles of water.
Ware also assists with a food pantry, or a community-specific site that hands out food boxes, run through the church, where cuts to SNAP are driving up the need for food, she said. The conversations around MAHA in the state are focused on lifestyle changes, Ware said, but personal lifestyle shifts won’t overcome the infrastructure and institutional challenges.
“If we were truly serious about making our communities healthy, we would have more than $25 for food benefits,” Ware said. “We would not be forcing people to pay for that water. We would have bellies full. We would have safe showers.”
Kennedy’s visit to the state early in his tenure marked a significant moment for the MAHA movement. Other states have followed West Virginia’s example, enacting laws that restrict food dyes or require labeling for products containing certain additives. This state law (currently on hold due to litigation), was cited when the federal government announced a plan to phase out artificial food dyes.
While MAHA leaders at the national level celebrate both the action on SNAP and food dyes as a win, West Virginians interviewed by Civil Eats viewed the MAHA action as more rhetoric than action, leaving pressing issues—like aging infrastructure, lack of jobs, food insecurity, and water safety—unresolved.
For many West Virginians, access to food is another critical issue. In Sandyville, which was once an agricultural community, Ware recalled a recent funeral she led for a farmer. The family was struggling and requested that people send food or donations rather than flowers, she said.
“It’s just wild that we are literally surrounded by farmlands,” Ware said. “We are functionally sitting on farmlands, and people don’t have food.”
The food pantry at the church was established in 1993, but the Millers say demand for goods has increased in recent years. (Photo credit: Rebekah Alvey)
The Sandyville United Methodist Church is perched on top of a rolling hill with a simple cross on the roof. Inside, parishioners Marvin and Robin Miller joined Ware at a table covered with a plastic, floral tablecloth.
Marvin and Robin met at this church and raised their children there. As the two spoke about their community, pride shone through. Marvin, who wore a bright blue t-shirt with the church’s logo, was often brought to tears reflecting on the work the couple does to help feed their community.
The church established a food pantry in 1993, an effort aided by Robin’s mother. Eventually, Robin took over as co-director, and Marvin stays active in a role he calls “go-getter,” someone who picks up, sorts, and stacks donations.
Over the last several years, the couple said, they’ve served about 45 families on a consistent basis. In times like the government shutdown when SNAP benefits were delayed, the demand has doubled.
“Prior proper planning prevents piss-poor performance,” Marvin said of federal and state MAHA efforts. “Right now, we’ve got some piss-poor performance going on in our programs.”
