Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct an inaccuracy.
With uncertainty at the federal level about whether or how much of SNAP benefits will be available this month, community organizations and governments have stepped up to make additional funding and food available, but officials worry it may not be enough to help the rising number of people who do not have enough food to eat.
A lapse in funding caused by the federal government shutdown is threatening to interrupt at least part of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that was formerly known as food stamps.
In the six-county area that includes Monroe County, about 16,000 people get SNAP benefits, along with nearly 42 million across the country. In 2024, federal SNAP spending totaled $99.8 billion, and benefits averaged $187.20 per participant per month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Food pantries bracing for impact as SNAP benefits threatened
If SNAP benefits are interrupted, more people will go hungry and will need to get food elsewhere.
“We’re bracing for significant increases in demand at food pantries and kitchens in our region,” said Julio Alonso, executive director of Hoosier Hills Food Bank (HHFB), a nonprofit that collects, stores and distributes food to other nonprofit agencies that feed the hungry in Brown, Lawrence, Orange, Owen, Martin and Monroe counties.
Food pantries generally try to cover food insecurity gaps, such as when people earn too much to qualify for SNAP benefits but still cannot make ends meet. According to Feeding America, more than 2 out of 5 people who face hunger are unlikely to qualify for SNAP. And some who would qualify for the benefits struggle to actually get them because of bureaucratic hurdles or other reasons such as homelessness.
Hoosier Hills Food Bank has received $100,000 from the Community Foundation of Bloomington Monroe County, and another $146,000 from Feeding America, the Smithville Charitable Foundation, the Sophia Travis Community Service Grants program and other private grants. The city of Bloomington added another $46,000 this week.
HHFB last year distributed an average of 483,000 pounds of food each month. Alonso said the additional funding will allow the organization to buy another 335,000 pounds of food — though that’s supposed to help people through the holiday season.
Bloomington City Council members are urging Mayor Kerry Thomson and the community to provide even more help. The council suggested drawing on the Jack Hopkins Social Services Fund, which has a balance of more than $56,000 and which, according to a council letter, exists “precisely to address urgent, unmet human needs in times of hardship.”
Another council letter also urged local residents to provide “reliable, sustained support, not just during moments of crisis, but throughout the year.”
Alonso: Even before crisis, food insecurity at highest level in decade
Alonso said that even before the most recent crisis, food insecurity already was at the highest level in the last decade. He said the number of people who went hungry dropped during the pandemic, but just as additional support during the health crisis ended, food prices spiked, pushing more people into food insecurity.
“The loss of something as important a lifeline as SNAP has really increased the problem,” he said.
Given the uncertainty at the federal level, Alonso said HHFB and other providers are operating under the assumption that people aren’t going to get their benefits this month. While the additional funds are helping, he said they won’t be nearly enough to make up for a potential loss in SNAP benefits.
For every meal that HHFB provides, the SNAP program provides nine, Alonso said.
“There’s no way we could replace the benefits (people) are receiving,” he said.
Even if the federal government ends up providing the normal benefit this month, Alonso said delays are likely to cause service interruptions, which will leave more people without food.
City council members Isak Nti Asare and Courtney Daily, along with Monroe County Council member Jody Madeira, will host a conversation with local food access organizations at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, at the downtown branch of the Monroe County Public Library.
How to help:
You can help people who are struggling with food insecurity by donating to:
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: As SNAP uncertainty lingers, Indiana food pantries brace for impact, worry about hunger
Reporting by Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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