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DALLAS COUNTY, Texas – The Trump administration will follow rulings by two federal judges and partially fund the SNAP program.

They will use a little under $5 billion in emergency funds that will cover about half of the monthly costs to fully fund SNAP.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins is raising money for the North Texas Food Bank after being contacted by FOX 4.

Dallas County SNAP help

The latest:

Emails poured in from people sharing their stories and asking for help after FOX 4 reported on the lapse in SNAP funding that began Saturday. We reached out to Jenkins asking what the county could do.

He’s found money from several different sources, including Dallas County, to try and make a difference in people’s lives.

People patiently waited for their turn to get a box of food at a Catholic Charities West Dallas Distribution Center.

Ongoing government shutdown

The backstory:

Democrats and Republicans are in a stalemate over the Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies that Dems want to keep, but the GOP does not, pushing instead for what Republicans call a “clean spending bill” to fund the government.

But caught up in the shutdown are SNAP benefits.

People who depend on the government’s help to buy food don’t have it, so volunteers are lending a helping hand.

‘This is what we do’

What they’re saying:

“It’s a simple thing that I can do. I have time. I have muscles. These people are struggling and this is the way that we have to help each other out. This is what we do,” said Catholic Charities volunteer Lisa Marino. 

“It’s going to help my family and other people that I come get stuff for so that they won’t have a ride to come, so it’s helping a lot,” said Dallas resident Jesse Morillo.

Monday’s food giving comes as the Trump Administration says it will follow rulings by two federal judges and use a little more than $4 billion in a contingency account to partially fund SNAP. 

It takes $9 billion a month to completely provide SNAP benefits nationwide.

“Even if there is a resolution that happens, we know it’s going to take a little time to unwind. We have community members that are already losing their benefits and to be on SNAP you can’t have savings, so it’s not like you can float this from month to month,” said North Texas Food Bank’s Trisha Cunningham.

Dallas County Judge raises funds

“We’ve got a million dollars from the county, a million dollars from the City of Dallas, and I want to commend everyone who made that possible in both those places,” Jenkins said. “I’ve raised a quarter million dollars, a little over a quarter million dollars from private charities.”

That money will go to the North Texas Food Bank and food boxes for furloughed federal workers and for Dallas County residents who are right now without SNAP benefits and for now will get less than what they normally receive.

“In the meantime, it falls on us — not just local government, but local people — to help our neighbors,” Jenkins said. 

What you can do:

With SNAP being partially funded, it means folks here will get significantly less than what they normally get to help buy food.

You can donate at ntfb.org. Also on the same site are locations of food pantries near you.

The Source: Information in this article came from FOX 4 coverage at a charitable event.

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