Food pantries in Cuyahoga County have seen an influx of people the last few days with the federal government shutdown keeping families from getting their November SNAP benefits.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it didn’t have enough funds for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to give out payments Nov. 1. Earlier this week, the White House said it would use emergency funds to provide partial benefits for November.
The Hunger Network works with dozens of food pantries throughout Greater Cleveland. It’s MidTown Market on Cleveland’s east side served 110 households Tuesday, the most it’s ever served in a single day. The pantry’s previous single day record was 83 households.
“We are just up high and we don’t know if it will stay high or if this will get resolved or if this will be the new normal,” said Emma Messett, the Hunger Network’s hunger relief program director.
Messett said the market served 154 households last week, 72 of which were new to the market.
Another Hunger Network pantry is the Lee-Miles Hunger Center in Southeast Cleveland. It served 42 households Wednesday, the most it served in a single day this year, about twice as many as it would serve on a typical day, said volunteer Leonard Killings.
“When an individual receives SNAP, they can use it at their own convenience,” Killings said. “When they are on the hunger center schedule, they can only receive food when we're open, on the days we're open.”
Killings said a lot of people at the center Wednesday were there for the first time, and many were directed to the center by word-of-mouth or by 211, a free community assistance hotline through the United Way.
Like many Ohioans, Mia Jackson and John Wade haven’t received their November SNAP benefits. They couple went to the Lee-Miles Hunger Center Wednesday.
“I do have four little kids at home, with one on the way and we have to call and see which pantries are even open for us to get food, versus going to the grocery store with my EBT card,” Jackson said.
More than four million SNAP recipients are in Ohio, about 190,000 of them in Cuyahoga County.
“I worry about my kids more than I worry myself," Wads said. "I can go two, three days without eating, but I'm going to make sure they eat. It's sad, I've never known what the depression was, but this is depressing.”
A partnership of public officials, private business and nonprofits in Cuyahoga County donated $625,000 to local food pantries last week to help make up for lost SNAP benefits. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine used $25 million to support food programs last week. Cuyahoga County said it takes more than $35 million federal dollars every month to fulfill the county’s SNAP benefits.
Despite the increase in food pantry support, Messett said she is concerned that the Hunger Network could start running out of food.
