As the government shutdown hit 38 days on Friday, longest in the country’s history, some of its immediate effects are job furloughs and a lapse in funding for SNAP benefits.
The White House agreed to partially fund the food aid program this week, and the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration received guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on SNAP allotments Tuesday. It said new amounts of aid would take about a week to calculate.
That still leaves recipients waiting for money to be distributed. And during that time, people like Bloomington resident Shannon Trehern are forced to lean more on community resources.
Without SNAP, Pantry 279 in Bloomington is his most consistent source for food. He volunteers there most days it’s open.
“When the food stamps went away it kind of scared me,” he said. “At first, I didn't know what I was going to do, because I can't go back to work. I can't last long enough. I'm lucky to be able to do it here, because it's just three hours and I'm sitting.”
He used to work 12-hour shifts at Cook Medical until he was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, which is when he applied for SNAP. Recently, his application for social security disability was approved, which decreased the amount he receives with SNAP.
“I had to start coming (to Pantry 279), because (the state) cut them back,” he said. “And then last month, I found out that I wasn't going to get any this month.”
Since his diagnosis, Trehern can’t be on his feet for long. On Wednesday at Pantry 279, he handed out baskets and bags to people coming into the pantry.
It’s uncertain when funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture contingency fund will get to recipients. Normally, it would have been available two days ago.
For organizations and leaders fighting hunger, the lapse in SNAP funding is the latest pressure on a system already struggling.
Cindy Chavez, director of Pantry 279, said monthly attendance hit 11,000 in July and started to climb again in the last few weeks.
Normally, the start of the month is slower for pantries, she said, because people’s SNAP EBT cards have just been filled. People turn to pantries at the end of the month as funds run lower on their cards.
But with the lapse in SNAP, local pantries didn’t see any break in need.
Chavez said 400 to 500 people usually use the pantry on Tuesdays. This Tuesday, it was nearly 900.
Along with people reliant on SNAP, she said many visitors this week are furloughed government workers.
“Most of these people have jobs,” Chavez said. “Some of them have one to three jobs, and they buy regular food with their money, but then supplement with SNAP.”
The median income of households receiving SNAP is $29,000. In Indiana, nearly 70 percent of SNAP recipients are families with children.
In September, the average issuance per SNAP recipient in Indiana was $195 for the month.
With what the White House agreed to pay, people are likely to receive less than half of their normal amount. People have less money to spend on food, and in counties with higher reliance on SNAP, the impact will be significant.
Jeremiah Freeman manages Babb’s Supermarket in Spencer, population 2,300. In Owen County, where Spencer is located, about 1,900 people receive SNAP.
“We do a lot of business with the SNAP benefits,” Freeman said. “The SNAP benefits account for about 6 percent of our sales here at Babbs, and about 12 percent of the sales at Save-a-Lot.”
And it means the stores are going to lose money.
“We're still going to lose sales if (SNAP’s) not funded 100 percent,” he said. “We depend on those, just like the customers depend on them to buy groceries. Every little bit helps, and we're in the penny business here at Babb's.”
The Hoosier Hills Food Bank, which serves pantries in south central Indiana, received $46,000 dollars from the city of Bloomington and Community Foundation, using the money to buy 10 additional truckloads to cover the drop in SNAP.
With holidays coming soon, Trehern doesn’t see an end to demand at food banks and pantries.
He hopes the government shutdown ends soon.
“We're the one paying (Congress) to be up there to decide all this stuff,” he said, “and I think it's just sad that they can't do more for us.”
