Food banks in the U.S. were already struggling after federal program cuts earlier this year, but now they're bracing for a tsunami of hungry people if a pause in federal food aid to low-income people kicks in this weekend amid the government shutdown.
The rush has already begun. Central Christian Church’s food pantry in downtown Indianapolis scrambled Saturday to accommodate around twice as many people as it normally serves in a day.
"There’s an increased demand. And we know it’s been happening really since the economy has downturned,” volunteer Beth White said, adding that with an interruption in funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), "it’s going to continue to get worse for folks.”
It's a concern shared by charitable food providers across the country as states prepare for SNAP benefits to dry up for lower-income families.
SNAP helps 40 million Americans, or about 1 in 8, buy groceries. The debit cards they use to buy groceries at participating stores and farmer markets usually are loaded each month by the federal government.
That's set to pause at the start of next month after the Trump administration said Friday that it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep food aid flowing in November, in the government shutdown. The administration also says that states that temporarily cover the cost of food assistance benefits next month will not be reimbursed.
"Bottom line, the well has run dry," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement. "At this time, there will be no benefits issued on Nov. 1."
It's the latest in a string of hardships imposed on charitable food services, which are intended to help fill gaps in federal food assistance, not replace government help altogether.
Charities have seen growing demand since the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent inflation spike, and they took a hit earlier this year when the Trump administration ended programs that had provided more than $1 billion to schools and food banks to fight hunger.
Reggie Gibbs, of Indianapolis, just recently started receiving SNAP benefits, which meant he didn't have to pick up as much from Central Christian Church’s food pantry when he stopped by on Saturday. But he lives alone, he said, and worries about what families with children will do.
"I’ve got to harken back to the families, man,” he said. "What do you think they’re going to go through, you know?”
Martina McCallop, of Washington, D.C., said she's worried about how she’ll feed her kids, ages 10 and 12, and herself when the $786 in monthly SNAP benefits is gone.
"I have to pay my bills, my rent and get stuff my kids need," she said. "After that, I don’t have money for food.”
She's concerned food pantries won’t be able to meet the sudden demand in a city with so many federal workers who aren’t being paid.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, where about 80,000 federal workers live, Food for Others executive director Deb Haynes said she doesn’t expect to run out of food entirely, largely because of donors.
"If we run short and I need to ask for help, I know I will receive it,” Haynes said.
Food pantries provide about one meal for every nine meals provided by SNAP, according to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks. They get the food they distribute through donations from people, businesses and some farmers. They also get food from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs and sometimes buy food with contributions and grant funding.
"When you take SNAP away, the implications are cataclysmic,” Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot said. "I assume people are assuming that somebody’s going to stop it before it gets too bad. Well, it’s already too bad. And it’s getting worse.”
Some distributors are already seeing food supplies drop sharply. George Matysik, executive director of Share Food Program in the Philadelphia area, said a state government budget impasse had already cut funding for his program.
"I’ve been here seven years,” Matysik said. "I’ve never seen our warehouses as empty as they are right now.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is fast-tracking $30 million in emergency food assistance funds to "help keep food pantries stocked," and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her state would expedite $8 million in funds allocated to food banks.
Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia said last week they would seek to keep food aid flowing to recipients in their states, even if the federal program is stalled.
Other states aren't in a position to offer much help, especially if they won't be reimbursed by the federal government. Arkansas officials, for example, have been pointing recipients to find food pantries, or other charitable groups, and friends and family for help.
