Organizations across Northeast Ohio that provide food and other nutritional assistance to individuals and families are gearing up to help as many people as possible with funding expected to run out Saturday for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
SNAP, also known as food stamps, is meant to help low-income individuals and families purchase groceries.
The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank serves eight counties in Northeast Ohio and delivers supplies to over 600 soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters. It says 177,000 people they support are SNAP recipients. Executive Director Dan Flowers said the foodbank is raising money and buying more food to ramp up its supply while also considering extending its hours and doing special food drops in certain communities.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” Flowers said.
Despite this, Flowers isn’t confident the food bank can keep up with the potential high demand. The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank says there are 177,000 SNAP recipients in the counties it serves. Flowers said the food bank isn’t scaled to be a replacement for the federal government.
“It will be hard for not just our food bank, but for America’s charitable food distribution system to keep pace with this,” Flowers said. “No one should be under the expectation that America’s food banks will be able to pick up this in its entirety. It’s not going to happen.”
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is also expecting to face a big jump in need. It serves six counties in Northeast Ohio and around 300,000 SNAP recipients. Director of Communications Karen Pozna said the food bank is working with partners to try and bring in an extra million pounds of food.
“We may try and increase that even more as we see how the next few weeks go with the increased need and influx of people,” she said.
Pozna added that no food bank can make up for the lack of SNAP benefits and that November is already one of the busier months but that it will try its best to serve as many people as possible.
“We are going to make sure that we are a support for them throughout these next several weeks, depending on how long this goes on for,” Pozna said.
The Portage Foundation, a nonprofit that supports charitable activities in Portage County and surrounding areas, is one of many nonprofits trying to lend a helping hand. The organization recently reactivated its Rapid Response Fund, which was created during the COVID-19 Pandemic to handle crises.
“We wanted to reactivate the Rapid Response Fund to give a place for folks to be able to contribute again,” Executive Director Janice Simmons-Mortimer said. “We can get the funds in and get it back out to the different communities as quickly as possible.”
Portage County Job and Family Services is working with several food-assistance providers around the county to aid residents who will lose their SNAP benefits. Some locations bring food for people or serve hot meals to those who need support. Many providers, however, are worried about their capacity to help those in need, according to Sharon Sanders, program director for the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna.
“The food pantries are not getting the donations like they were used to getting,” Sanders said, “but they're doing the best they can to supply for the families.”
Will it be enough? Dan Flowers at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank said he’s been working with local leaders to offer additional support.
“In my 30 years working in food banking, this has never happened before,” Flowers said. “And this could be the single biggest wave of demandthat America’s charitable food system has seen since it was developed.”
Both the Akron Canton Regional Foodbank and Greater Cleveland Food Bank emphasized the importance of planning, knowing where to find the closest food pantry and when it’s open.
“I recommend people just have a plan, so they don’t get caught off guard,” Flowers said. “Food insecurity happens quick.”
