Six hundred dollars can’t cover an entire month of groceries for Yolanda Robertson’s family of five. But it’s a critical piece of how the 36-year-old single mom can put food on the table.
Or at least, it was. Robertson is among the 42 million low-income people nationwide, including 140,000 Rhode Islanders, who stand to lose federal food assistance if the federal government fails to reopen by Nov. 1. In Rhode Island, the payments from the federally funded program amount to $29 million a month, or $348 million a year, according to Gov. Dan McKee’s office.
Shutdown likely to halt food benefits for 42 million in just days
“I am nervous,” Robertson, who lives in Providence, said Wednesday as she stood in line at Good Neighbors Community Kitchen and Food Pantry in East Providence’s Riverside section. “I really don’t know what I will do.”
Federal officials first put out the alert on Oct. 1 that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will run out of money at the end of the month if Congress fails to pass a spending bill and end the government shutdown. The warnings intensified in another notice Oct. 10, with state administrators directed not to begin issuing payments to vendors ahead of the regular, Nov. 1 distribution.
Even if a shutdown deal were reached immediately, the time needed to process the payments and make them available for recipients means benefits would likely be delayed.
I am nervous. I really don’t know what I will do.
– Yolanda Robertson, a Providence resident who receives federal food assistance
The funding shortfall has gotten enough hype to trend on TikTok, which is how Robertson found out a few days ago.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I kind of can’t believe it.”
Her short-term solution: fill her shelves with as much additional food as she can from local food pantries. She’s not the only one with these plans.
Food pantries across Rhode Island have reported record numbers of clients served in recent weeks, including more frequent visits by the same people, as the prospect of cuts to federal food assistance looms.
Stocking up
Newport’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center ran out of hot food during breakfast Tuesday morning — the first time Executive Director Heather Hole Strout could ever recall. People got fed thanks to a backup supply of frozen breakfast sandwiches, cereal and fruit, but Strout was shocked by the sudden bump in attendance.
A few hours later, during the Newport nonprofit’s Tuesday lunch, a record crowd returned, again too many for the amount of hot food available. Another group packed the center’s lobby, shoulder-to-shoulder as they waited for the noon opening of the food pantry.
“It’s definitely very typical of what happens when there is a shortage or something is going to be lost,” Strout said. “People try to get ahead of it. We’re seeing a lot of people trying to conserve what they have, and get to the food pantry before this happens.”
It’s definitely very typical of what happens when there is a shortage or something is going to be lost. People try to get ahead of it. We’re seeing a lot of people trying to conserve what they have, and get to the food pantry before this happens.
– Heather Hole Strout, executive director, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport
A majority of those helped by the food pantry and community meal programs also receive federal food assistance. But the monthly stipends — which vary based on income level, the number of children or a disability — aren’t enough for most people to live on, prompting many to turn to community programs.
A continued shutdown, and the lapse of SNAP, will only increase the demand on community food pantries, already struggling to plan amid food and funding shortages and limited physical space.
“We have a plan in place, but at the same time, you can’t totally plan for something when you don’t know whether it’s going to happen or not,” Strout said. “We can’t have dozens more pallets of food in a building that doesn’t hold more food.”
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank funnels state and federal funding and private donations to food pantries across the state. The 89,000 people served last month at local food pantries is the highest on record, its executive director, Melissa Cherney, said.
“We’re doing the best we can but we’re really strapped, with less food than last year serving more people,” Cherney said.
None of its member food pantries have had to turn any clients away. At least, not yet.
“That is still a real possibility,” Cherney said.
New work requirements
Nov. 1 also marks a change in eligibility for the federal food assistance program, with new work requirements that could cause older adults, homeless people and veterans, to suddenly lose access to benefits. Information on the number of SNAP recipients in Rhode Island affected by the changes was not immediately available.
But Nessa Richman forecasts chaos from the combination of sudden, stringent proof-of-work paperwork and a government shutdown.
“This is an unprecedented crisis,” Richman, executive director for the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, said. “We haven’t seen impacts on the SNAP program like this ever.”
McKee organized a meeting with municipal leaders Monday to begin local efforts to assist food banks. The governor’s office is also working on its own plan that would “leverage state funding with community partners and philanthropic organizations” to boost food supplies, according to a statement from McKee’s office Monday. The governor’s office did not respond to inquiries for comment on what this plan entailed, or what progress has been reached on Wednesday.
However, McKee made clear that the “astronomical” cost for the program is not one the state can absorb on its own.
Kate Mushipi, executive director at Good Neighbors, was confident that partner agencies and community donations would ensure the East Providence food pantry and kitchen could continue to feed everyone who needed it. But, she acknowledged that smaller pantries, without as many community partners, might not be so fortunate.
Beyond providing food and funding, food pantries have also become a critical source of education and information on the daily, sometimes hourly, changes in what’s coming down from Washington.
Robin Covington, a board member for Good Neighbors who also works at United Way of Rhode Island, came to Wednesday morning’s food pantry with an array of informational brochures and buttons, ready to answer questions and connect clients to other support systems.
Most food pantry clients knew at least a little about the shutdown and the new work requirements. But some were confused about the details, or just looking for some reassurance.
“We’re comforting, we’re helping them make a plan, to know what’s available,” Covington explained. “I think it’s just starting to hit that this is real.”
‘Emergency mindset’
An air of resignation hung heavy in the basement dining room, as clients lingered over cups of coffee and donuts while waiting for a turn in the pantry line.
“I think people are already in that emergency mindset,” said Abby AlSasah, a volunteer. “This is just another thing they have to deal with.”
Corey Santos, 73, shrugged when asked about the prospect of losing the $280 in monthly federal food assistance that supports him and his adult daughter, Taneka.
“We’ll just have to deal with it,” he said. “It’s terrible. But what can we do?”
But there were signs of joy, too — greetings between regulars, talk of pets and children, and the prospect of a hot meal.
Wednesday’s lunch menu featured ground turkey pasta — acceptable, but not the top choice for Arthur Donnelly, 67. He prefers the sloppy joes.
“On those days, I bring my own barbecue sauce,” Donnelly said.
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