WINCHESTER — With federal funding cuts taking chunks of money away from many nonprofits’ annual operating budgets, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) visited Winchester Wednesday morning to hear first-hand accounts of how this is affecting the community.
“I really want to hear from you all so that we can prioritize our work [in Washington],” Kaine told 16 representatives from nonprofit agencies across the region at the outset of Wednesday’s gathering on the Our Health campus on North Cameron Street.
Specifically, Kaine wanted to hear how the Trump administration’s across-the-board funding cuts for nonprofits in his Big Beautiful Bill, plus the president’s order to withhold federal financial support for any agency that provides services to undocumented immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals and people who were previously protected by diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, could play out in the months and years to come.
“In 2026, we [in the United States] will commemorate 250 years of democracy,” Kaine said. “We want it to be a celebration, not a requiem.”
The senator said he voted against President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill when it was decided by the Senate on July 1.
“There are a couple things in it that I like, but much more that I don’t like,” he said about the bill, H.R. 1, that passed the Senate 51-50 (Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote) and the House of Representatives 218-214 before being signed into law by Trump on July 3. “And the thing I most don’t like about it is the traumatic cuts to the safety net — Medicaid cuts, cuts to the [insurance] premium support of the Affordable Care Act, cuts to the SNAP program [that helps low-income families pay for groceries]. Those aspects of the reconciliation bill, I think, are very, very harmful.”
Kaine said the federal funding cuts to nonprofits could severely limit the services they offer to people in need, which in turn could trigger even more problems for hospitals, businesses and government agencies that have to pick up the slack.
“Your primary concern is the well-being of the people you serve, but an important secondary concern is the viability of a nonprofit sector that’s there every day to meet community needs,” he said. “I think a lot of our nonprofits … are facing real threats.”
Kim Herbstritt, executive director of Blue Ridge Habitat for Humanity, said her organization has already lost $200,000 in federal appropriations intended to help provide housing for families whose incomes aren’t sufficient to cover a typical mortgage payment.
“We stack and layer every bit of money we can,” Herbstritt said as she told Kaine that the cuts nearly derailed the construction of three Habitat houses earlier this year in Strasburg before Blue Ridge Habitat found ways to cover the shortfall.
But the funding cuts are only part of the problem for housing assistance organizations like Blue Ridge Habitat for Humanity. Kaine said those agencies will also be paying more for already-expensive building materials because of import tariffs Trump has imposed on other countries.
“A lot of building materials come from Canada,” he said, and that country now has to pay a 35% tariff on many of the items it exports to the United States.
Jacob Matz, director of partner engagement with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, said reducing money and changing eligibility requirements for programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) that help low-income individuals and families buy groceries will put more of a burden on food banks that are already struggling to provide enough nutrition for their clients.
“We went from serving somewhere around 30,000 individuals every month … [to] more than 60,000 across our network,” Matz said of the regional food bank that serves 25 counties and eight cities, including Winchester and Frederick, Clarke, Warren and Shenandoah counties. “At the same time that we see those rising demands, our partners (local food banks) are just completely strapped.”
That situation could get much worse, Kaine said, because more federal employees and contractors are expected to lose their jobs due to the Trump administration’scuts.
Even if unemployed workers find new jobs, their new gigs may pay less than they were earning in their federal positions. In turn, that will put more financial stress on them because they’ll have less cash to support their families.
“Childcare currently in the state averages anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 a year, the same cost as a college tuition,” said Meredith Locasio, vice president of school readiness with the United Way of Greater Charlottesville.
The amount of stress being put on people as they worry about feeding their families, providing for their kids and staying housed will most likely lead to an increase in individuals who need mental health services, said Tina Stevens-Culbreath of Winchester’s I’m Just Me Movement.
Rusty Holland, executive director of Concern Hotline in Winchester, said his data show that stress and anxiety are already taking a toll on the community.
“Our suicide ideation numbers are up, our calls are increasing locally,” Holland said. “Our suicide intervention numbers are up with our local numbers, a lot with the homeless community as they start to see some of their benefits and food disappear.”
Faith Power, executive director of The Laurel Center in Winchester, said people who can’t afford therapy and instead turn to nonprofits for mental health services may be out of luck.
“There is a national shortage of therapists,” Power said. “They can make six-figure incomes in private practice. We can’t touch that.”
That puts even more of a burden on the paid staffs of nonprofits, even though many of them have already been stretched to their personal and professional limits.
“I’ve got staff that is burned out … that are in trauma,” Power told Kaine. “I’m really concerned.”
Skip Philips, CEO of NW Works in Winchester, said he worries about the future for his clients, which are people with developmental and intellectual challenges.
“Their ability to advocate for themselves is very limited,” Philips said. “Their voice will get lost in in the shuffle.”
Kaine said he’ll keep working to protect Virginia’s nonprofit agencies and the people they serve, and he encouraged the nonprofit leaders who met with him Wednesday to stay strong and continue working in the best interests of their clients.
“You can never assume that you’re just shouting into the void,” he said. “You have to believe that your advocacy can make a difference — not all the time, but sometimes you can.”