US EditionMass. Communities Organizing Food Pantries Amid SNAP Freeze, Government Shutdown
About 42 million SNAP recipients face food insecurity as benefit delays cause surges in demand at pantries nationwide, with some sites serving 1,000 people or more, officials said.
- Across the country, food pantries and drive-through giveaways saw large weekend surges after monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were suddenly cut off Saturday, affecting about 42 million people.
- Because of the government shutdown, USDA planned to withhold SNAP payments until two federal judges ruled Friday, and U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ordered a report by Monday with a $3 billion contingency fund option by Wednesday.
- Jim Michaud, site manager in Bangor for Samaritan Inc, said cars began lining up early with about 120 counted before distributions, while Must Ministries in Austell served about 1,000 people.
- Pantry staff warn that delays could quickly deplete supplies this month, while families relying on SNAP said they worried about missing benefits before Thanksgiving; St. Vincent De Paul soup kitchen and food pantry added 10 extra volunteers Saturday.
- Locally, food pantries reporting recent upticks serve about 42 million people, including roughly 170,000 Mainers and 15 in Penobscot County, amid recent benefit cuts.
20 Articles
20 Articles
“It must be stopped”: Furloughed government workers speak out against shutdown, threats to food stamps at DC-area food banks
A spokesperson for a DC-area food bank told the WSWS that over 36 percent of the area's residents, or 1.5 million, were food insecure even before the threat to food stamps and the government shutdown.
Kansas Reflector
Kansas City PitchFood benefits skid to a stop in Kansas. Politics and government have utterly failed us.
A sign in an Indianapolis store shown on Aug. 1, 2023, says SNAP benefits are accepted there. Food benefits have stopped flowing because of the federal government shutdown. (Photo by Getty Images)There’s a word to describe the mess that Kansas and the rest of our country faces, now that the federal government shutdown has stopped food assistance. That word is failure. It’s a failure on the part of a Washington, D.C., governing class interested i…
Loss of SNAP benefits leads to long food pantry lines
Long lines have formed at food pantries across the U.S. as federal food benefits were cut off due to the government shutdown. People are turning to free meals and groceries to replace their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.…
Mass. communities organizing food pantries amid SNAP freeze, government shutdown
Emergency food drives, like those at First Parish in Milton, Massachusetts, are popping up all over the country in response to the need created after the government plunged into a shutdown in early October.
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