With the start of the holiday season approaching, food pantries and those who distribute food to them are bracing for more people amid the uncertainty around federal payments.<\/p>\n
Officials said they were seeing unprecedented need for food and figuring out how to serve food to those who need it. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Payments benefits would stop beginning Saturday because it could no longer pay for them, but on Friday two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously that President Donald Trump\u2019s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation\u2019s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown.\n<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after the ruling. That process often takes one to two weeks. The rulings are likely to face appeals. The case was brought by 25 states, including Pennsylvania, who asked to use emergency funding for SNAP.\n<\/p>\n
This comes as food pantries are already losing out on state funds due to the ongoing impasse over the passage of the state budget. The shutdown also forced the state to delay opening the 2025-26 Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program season by one month.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Warabak, executive director of CEO Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank, said the bank has been inundated with calls from people looking for food pantries and distribution sites in the four counties it serves \u2014 Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna and Wyoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of calls from individuals that are just legitimately scared,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re nervous that they\u2019re not going to get their benefits for November.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Helping Harvest, which distributes food to food pantries and other distribution sites in Berks and Schuylkill counties, has been receiving many phone calls and a lot of support has come in, President Jay Worrall said.<\/p>\n
Jodina Hicks, president and CEO of Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania, is seeing the impact of SNAP potentially not being funded at its food pantries across the state. Locally, it operates two food pantries in Wilkes-Barre. She said the number of people coming to the pantries has tripled, and the pantries have run out within several hours of opening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re open, we have lines circling through the parking lot on the sidewalks,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n
For Jessica Wallo, director of community services for United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the most noticeable impact from the uncertainty around SNAP benefits at the food pantry on Olive Street in Scranton has been the number of new people, people who haven\u2019t used the pantry for a number of years and people who are working but still need help. The pantry served 10 new families this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing new faces come in,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing people who haven\u2019t been here for years coming in for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
She expects the pantry will serve more than 800 families this month, while Worrall is expecting an influx of people at an upcoming distribution at the Fairlane Village Mall and its mobile markets in Shenandoah and Tamaqua.<\/p>\n
Warabak said Weinberg has ordered additional food products, and the more than 300 food pantries it serves have increased their hours.<\/p>\n
Worrall and Warabak acknowledged their food banks can\u2019t completely fill the gaps left if SNAP isn\u2019t fully funded.<\/p>\n
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Employee Tim Golightly wraps up a pallet of pantry items at The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank in Pittston Twp. Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n
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Employee Ryan O\u2019Malley loads a pallet of pantry items into a truck at The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank in Pittston Twp. Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n
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Employee Tim Golightly wraps up a pallet of pantry items at The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank in Pittston Twp. Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n