Coming Cuts to Emergency SNAP Benefits Threaten Food Security in Rural America

Elko, Nevada. On a cold morning in early February, Tammy King prepared and loaded boxes and bags of vegetables, fruit, milk, frozen meats and snacks into trucks lining up outside the Friends in Service food pantry, famous in the countryside of the northeast. Nevada is like a FISH.

The start of the month is busy for the food pantry, King said, because people receiving benefits from the federal Supplemental Food Assistance Program, known as SNAP, show up to stock up on free food that helps them boost their monthly payments. The grocery pantry, one of the few in this city of about 20,000, is serving more families than ever in King’s 20 years, she said. In January, FISH provided food parcels to almost 790 people.

But King and other food bank managers fear that demand will pick up even more in March when officials cancel the pandemic extension on SNAP benefits. The program, run by the Department of Agriculture, provides monthly stipends to low-income people to spend on food. Until 2020, these payments averaged just over $200, and during the pandemic they were increased by at least $95.

Families King works with will see a 30% to 40% reduction in SNAP payments, officials estimate, as health emergency-related emergency payments are suspended in 32 states, including Nevada. Other states such as Georgia, Indiana, Montana and South Dakota have already stopped allocating emergency funds.

Cutting SNAP benefits will definitely hurt people living in America’s rural areas, said Andrew Cheyne, managing director of public policy for GRACE, a non-profit organization run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul dedicated to reducing child hunger. A higher percentage of people are dependent on SNAP in rural areas compared to urban areas. And these areas are already experiencing higher rates of food insecurity and poverty.

“We have so many households that just don’t know this is happening,” Cheyne said. “They’re going to go to the grocery store and expect to have money in their account, but they won’t be able to buy the groceries they need to feed their families.”

And as the impact of these cuts ebbs, rural food warehouse managers are on the front lines trying to fill the gaps in their communities. They and food policy experts fear that this will not be enough. For every dollar of food the food bank distributes to the community, SNAP delivers $9.

“You can’t compare the scale of SNAP to the charitable food sector,” Cheyne said. “This difference is simply impossible to make up.”

According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, benefits for each household will be cut by at least $95 a month, with some households receiving cuts of up to $250.

“I see that we can never fully make up for what has been lost,” said Ellen Wollinger, SNAP director of the Center for Food Research and Action, a nonprofit hunger relief organization in Washington, DC.

The cuts will cut payments to assisted households to an average of $6 per person per day, Wolinger said, adding that $2 per meal is not enough to feed a person, especially when other factors such as rising fuel, rents, and prices are taken into account. for products. Some seniors will face the sharpest drop in benefits, she said, from $280 a month to $23.

Chasity Harris, 42, said the $519 benefit she has received every month since October means a lot to her and her granddaughter. She says that after the emergency budget is cut, she knows she can do whatever she can to make sure there is food on the table in her house, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.

“You can’t eat healthy without a small budget,” Harris said. “Bad food is cheap. Just because I can manage doesn’t mean I get everything we need. I buy the cheapest.”

Emergency SNAP payments have helped more than 4 million people stay above the poverty line at the end of 2021, according to a study published by the Urban Institute. According to the study, the largest decline in poverty was seen among non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics.

In Montana, extended SNAP benefits were cut in the summer of 2021. Brent Weisgram, vice president and chief operating officer of the Montana Food Bank Network, said reports from network partners show a 24% increase in households seeking emergency assistance. food pantries from July 2021 to July 2022

Weisgram said food pantries are not prepared to absorb the impact of a cut to the largest federal nutrition assistance program and is strictly an additional resource.

Food banks across the country are still coping with the increased demand that began in 2020, Cheyne said. This ongoing need due to the pandemic, combined with food price inflation, is making food warehouses less prepared for the demand caused by SNAP emergency cuts.

While FISH’s pantry now has enough meat for families, King said she worries about whether there will be enough meat in six months. On a scale of 1 to 10, King said her level of anxiety about the implications of impending SNAP cuts is 9.

Judging by the history, her fears are justified.

In 2009, SNAP recipients received an average of 15% to 20% more benefits as the federal government responded to the challenges of the Great Recession. A family of four received $80 a month in extra benefits. In 2013, the government removed increased benefits, cutting them by an average of 7% for households. The effects were both immediate and long-term, Cheyne said, including significant spikes in food insecurity and poverty-related famine that lasted nearly a decade.

The cuts this time around are much larger than in 2013, and states have much less time to prepare, making it difficult for SNAP recipients to know about the benefits they could be missing out on.

While families and individuals are expected to turn to other places, such as food banks, other aid organizations are facing challenges from inflation and rising food prices.

According to Jocelyn Lantrip, director of marketing and communications for the food bank, the Northern Nevada Food Bank, which helps stock food in small communities, including FISH, has experienced a drop in food donations over the past six months. Employees are “trying” to find and buy enough food to meet the expected increase in demand, she said.

King said FISH’s food pantry will depend on donations because its grant dollars aren’t being stretched as far as they used to be due to inflation. But they will do their best to meet the needs of their community, which go far beyond food aid. Food boxes are just sticks in the wheel of services that FISH and other food pantries provide, such as help with enrolling in SNAP and other benefit programs, housing, and referrals to mental health providers.

Despite a difficult journey for a small food pantry, King is full of hope.

“I feel like everyone who can help is doing their best to help us,” she said. “You just have to look at your food and say, ‘OK, how long can I go on and change someone’s life?'”