On November, 1 approximately half a million Nevadans who receive food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — are expected to stop receiving their benefits. That means a loss of roughly $90 million in federal funding for food assistance.
To help fill the void created by the loss of SNAP funds, community organizations, such as Three Square and the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, will have to step in and make sure more than half a million Nevadans don’t go hungry during this government shutdown. It’s a massive undertaking, but the organizations and their partners are working overtime to prepare for the increase in need.
At the Food Bank of Northern Nevada’s warehouse, order pickers are steadily loading pallets with boxes destined for local food pantries. Some pallets get more canned goods. Others get staples like rice and beans, and there’s always a demand for meat and dairy. Each order is packed according to the needs of the pantry it’s going to.
“We are seeing the highest numbers of need that we've seen ever in the 42 years of this organization," said Jocelyn Lantrip, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada’s marketing and communications director. "We're helping 160,000 people every single month, and we are definitely expecting that to increase.”
That’s because SNAP benefits are now on hold until the government shutdown ends. “We have 77,000 people who are not getting their SNAP benefits on November 1st," Lantrip said. "Those folks are going to be looking for emergency food, and so our partners, our distributors, are how they'll get it.”
This rise in demand comes as food banks and related charitable organizations across the country struggle to adapt to federal grant program cuts. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada, for example, disbursed more than 26 million pounds of food last year. That number will be closer to 23 million pounds this year.
And while Lantrip is quick to point out that the food bank is working aggressively to secure more food through donations and partnerships, she also admits it’s going to be impossible to fill the void created by the loss of SNAP funds. “I think at some point, people will get less food," she said. "We'll have to distribute less. I hate that, but it's what we're looking at. I mean, this really can't go on too long.”"
To help offset the loss of funds, Nevada state officials announced a plan to quickly direct nearly $39 million to local food banks, in the hope that fewer people go hungry. However, that funding might not be enough, and many SNAP recipients are already preparing for the worst.
Dwayne McCoy is the Pastor of the Foundation Christian Center and CEO of a nonprofit grocery store and food pantry in northeast Las Vegas called The After Market. He’s already seeing a lot of new faces come into the store.
"We've been averaging 200 a day, but we're expecting more than that today simply because of what's coming up on the first of the month," McCoy said. "A lot of people have hit the panic button ... What am I gonna do? How am I going to feed my family? What's it gonna look like?”
Some of the food McCoy uses to stock the pantry comes from Three Square, which said it also plans to expand its emergency food response by setting up additional food donation sites and distribution events. While McCoy has faith that his pantry will be fine, he has been working for the last several weeks preparing for the inevitable flood of demand.
“I've done inventory on what I have in backstock, and I've done an estimation on what I've been receiving over the weeks from food banks and different organizations," he said. "I've also been on the phone and the email reaching out to everybody that's ever donated food or financially to make sure that we're that we're okay no matter how long this thing lasts.”
In the meantime, Nevada has joined a multistate lawsuit seeking to block the federal government from suspending SNAP benefits. The suit, against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, argues that cutting SNAP benefits would be unlawful.
But organizations like Lantrip’s and McCoy’s aren’t waiting to see the results. With thousands of families counting on them for help, they’ll be scrounging for every crumb and cent they can find until the crisis ends.
