Shutdown Drawdown, Now The Task Of Rebuilding

A distressing outcome of the instability at the federal level is the encroaching occurrence of increasingly longer shutdowns.  Past shutdowns inconvenienced many, but this shutdown has shattered an aspect of what we commonly expect government to do.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides monthly benefits to help low-income individuals and families have access to food.  The most recent shutdown caused the SNAP disruption that materialized on November 1st.

According to the Food Research & Action Center, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., they saw Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia were most affected, but Mississippi, Nebraska were hardest hit.  All of these states made an effort to prop up the disruption with a combination of the remaining state and federal funding or were forced to resort to pausing support.  Coastal states seemed least affected.

Tragic stories emerged of foster children hoarding food and, like the Great Depression accounts, parents depriving themselves to minimize the crisis for their children.

CPSD provides free breakfast and lunch for all students. There was no variation due to the shutdown. “The Clover Park School District continued providing meals to students without interruption throughout the shutdown. We recognize that delayed SNAP benefits created real hardship for many families. During that time, we shared information about local food and community resources to help ease the strain, and we are deeply grateful to our community partners who stepped up to support families as they worked through the impact of the delay.”

A lesser-mentioned result is that food banks and similar resources saw at least a 50% increase in requests.  Now that the dust has settled, food banks are scrambling to recover.

According the Emergency Food Network; “The recent government shutdown has pushed thousands of Pierce County families into deeper food insecurity, and the ripple effects are being felt across our entire emergency food system. When federal paychecks stop or essential benefits are delayed, many households have no choice but to turn to their local food pantry—often for the first time.

“Emergency Food Network is seeing a significant increase in demand at a time when food banks were already stretched thin. Our partners are reporting higher visitor numbers, longer lines, and more urgent requests for staple foods. Emergency Food Network is the largest nonprofit food distributor in Pierce County and partners with more than 75 local food pantries, and we have distributed more than 16 million pounds of food to Pierce County residents so far this year, 3 million pounds more than projected.

“Despite these challenges, EFN remains committed to ensuring that no one in Pierce County goes hungry. We are working closely with our network of more than 75 local food pantries, meal sites, and shelters to keep food flowing into the community. But the strain is real—and growing.

(for more info and how to help; “https://www.efoodnet.org”)