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Food Banks Prepare for Surge as Food Aid Paused

One major pain point of the government shutdown is about to be felt across the United States after the White House announced that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would not be funded starting this Saturday, November 1.

SNAP provides benefits for more than 42 million Americans, helping around 1 out of every 8 Americans buy groceries. They use debit cards, loaded up each month with government funding, to buy groceries at participating stores:

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 states temporarily covering the cost of food assistance benefits next month will not be reimbursed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said, “the well has run dry” when it made the announcement. Church food pantries and regional food banks are now preparing for a tsunami of need as low-income Americans aren’t able to purchase food.

One church said the rush was already underway: