About one in eight Americans receives federal food aid, and in Philadelphia, that number is more like one in three. Now, due to the government shutdown, officials say those payments for food won’t be there come Nov. 1. CBS News Philadelphia sought to understand the impact this will have on Philadelphia families and food banks.
When we met Jasmine Clowden, she was pushing her 2-month-old daughter in a stroller and holding her 3-year-old son’s hand as they walked through a University City park. She was laughing and singing songs with her son, but behind the smiles, she says it’s been one of the toughest periods of her life. She’s a single mom of five staying in a transitional house while her 17-month-old daughter receives specialized care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“It’s a rare genetic mutation of the ACTG2 gene, so she has trouble digesting food,” said Clowden, who’s been visiting her daughter every day at CHOP for the past year. She doesn’t have a car, so Clowden says she uses public transportation or walks 30 minutes one-way to get there.
“It’s been a struggle,” she said.
Jasmine Clowden’s SNAP benefits were recently stolen from her account. She’s facing challenges as November’s SNAP payments are not expected to go out due to the government shutdown.
CBS News Philadelphia
On top of the stress of dealing with her daughter’s hospitalization, Clowden’s SNAP benefits were recently stolen from her account. She says she’s been receiving monthly payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for about five years now. Currently, she gets about $1,200 a month to buy food for her family. The app she uses to track her SNAP benefits showed the last deposit on Oct. 7, but it was immediately withdrawn later that day at locations she’d never visited, leaving her with just 25 cents in her account.
Now, she’s facing another challenge as November’s SNAP payments are not expected to go out due to the government shutdown. Clowden said she’s relying on her faith, her church, and the help of others to get by day by day.
She’s not alone.
George Matysik is the executive director of the Share Food Program in Philadelphia. They’re bracing for Nov. 1, but he says they can’t stay afloat without donations. The Share Food Program welcomes monetary donations, food, or even volunteers willing to donate their time.
“For organizations like us already dealing with an increase in need and less resources than we’ve had in recent years, it’s going to be a greater challenge than anything we’ve ever dealt with before,” said Matysik, who noted they are already seeing an onslaught of new people at food pantries across the region.
On Monday, Matysik was in Harrisburg to see if state lawmakers might be able to help so people like Clowden and her family don’t go hungry.
New Jersey food banks also preparing for Nov. 1
For the first time, Jake Jones filled a shopping cart with groceries at the South Jersey Dream Center in West Deptford. Jones says he has a zero balance on his benefits card, and he turned to the nonprofit, knowing his SNAP benefits likely won’t be refilled.
“It’s hard right now,” Jones said. “I got little kids, so this is what the food is for.”
The Dream Center has been open for 15 years. It’s a beacon of hope in the community where people can come in to shop for free food.
“We don’t hand a box of food to people and a couple bags, they leave with a grocery cart full, so we need to make sure our shelves are stocked when people come in,” said Natalie Fortunato, the executive director at South Jersey Dream Center.
The shelves were stocked Wednesday afternoon because of a recent food drive organized by a local church, but Fortunato says more donations will be needed. Appointments are booked through December, and Fortunato is now strategizing about how to accommodate more people with a rising need.
“In the last six days we received 160 requests for assistance, that is off the charts,” she said.
New Jersey food pantries say they’re serving more people now than at height of pandemic
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At the Food Bank of South Jersey, volunteers spent part of Wednesday working to meet the growing demand. They helped pack boxes of food for the food bank’s 300 community partners.
CEO Fred Wasiak says 130,000 people in South Jersey rely on SNAP to eat, and if benefits are paused, families will be forced to turn to local food pantries.
“We are beefing up our inventory to get food to them as quickly as possible,” Wasiak said. “It’s going to be challenging to figure out how we are going to serve all those that need food.”
Jones knows the road ahead will be bumpy, but for now he’s thankful the South Jersey Dream Center and other pantries are trying to keep food flowing into the community.
“It’s good, it’s good to have, it’s a blessing, a real blessing,” he said.
At Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, staff say they’ve been in emergency meetings to prepare for the crisis.
“The last week of the month we usually serve about 650 people. On Monday, we served 800,” said Noreen Flewelling, vice president of development at Cathedral Kitchen. “Just how will we handle if we serve 1,000 meals in a day next week, 1,500? We don’t know what that number is going to be.”
The organization is relying on volunteers and donations to keep providing food. (Information about volunteering at Cathedral Kitchen is available online.)
Many food pantries told CBS News Philadelphia they’re serving more people now than at the height of the pandemic. If SNAP benefits are paused, they say the impacts will be devastating and last through the holidays.
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