‘The greatest hunger catastrophe since the Great Depression’ as Americans brace for food stamps to run out
Two decades ago, Sara Carlson, then a mother of three, was newly single because of a traumatic event, and the US’s food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), helped her feed her children with free food supplies.
“I wouldn’t have been able to afford to live,” said Carlson, 45, who lives in Rochester, Minnesota, and now works as an operations manager for a wealth-management firm and serves on the board of Channel One Regional Food Bank, which works to increase food access.
While the food stamps helped her, the government cut her off after a couple years because she started making too much money, which meant she again had to worry about having enough food.
Now, nearly 42 million people around the country could face the same fate if the federal government shutdown continues and funding for Snap is cut off on 1 November.
While Republicans have sought to blame Democrats for the potential loss in benefits that people who make little money rely on, those who work in the food-insecurity space say that is misleading because Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act already eliminated almost $187bn in funding for Snap through 2024, according to a congressional budget office estimate.
Should funding run out at the end of the month, “we will have the greatest hunger catastrophe in America since the Great Depression, and I don’t say that as hyperbole”, said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America. [Continue reading…]
Federal workers lined up around the corner outside of the Capital Area Food Bank in Southeast Washington, D.C., on Friday after missing their first full paycheck since the now 24-day government shutdown began.
The food bank, set up specifically for federal workers, provided boxed meals, household goods and personal hygiene items to over 250 federal employees on Friday, according to Wil Stroman, a local pastor who is helping organize a food bank for federal workers every Friday until the shutdown ends.
Anthony Speight, who is furloughed for the first time in his 17 years as a federal employee, said that he “never thought” he would be in a position to ask the community for help.
“I used to be a grants administrator, administrator of grants across the federal government, giving assistance, and now I’m in line requesting assistance,” Speight told NBC News. [Continue reading…]