Will SNAP renew in November? Desperation and anger have grown as government shutdown dragged on
In Lolita Arnold’s pantry, the main contents are a can of beef, a package of stew, a box of Corn Flakes cereal, a bag of dried lentils, and some grapes. That’s the result of an hour-long line at a church pantry in Huntington, West Virginia, earlier this week.
Breakfast on Thursday for Arnold, 60, was a cup of coffee and a banana, dinner was mashed potatoes with canned gravy.
“This is going to have to hold me over until the next day, and then I’ll go from there,” she said.
Arnold expects $145 in monthly food stamp benefits to be available on his electronic benefits card on November 6. If that doesn’t happen, she doesn’t have an easy way to get back to the food bank: Arnold’s car has broken down. She was looking for work, perhaps in housekeeping, but had no luck.
Even if she were able to obtain one, many food banks report overwhelming demand.
“We were already seeing the highest need we have ever seen in our 42-year history,” said Claire Neal, CEO of MANNA FoodBank, which serves residents of Western North Carolina. “There are truly tremendous needs in our region, and on top of that comes the crisis of the shutdown and what it will mean to not receive SNAP benefits. »
This week, the Salvation Army in Jackson, Mississippi, served nearly twice as many households as in the month of September, according to Ashley Cowards, a social worker in the area.
Sulton, 32, showed up at the Salvation Army site for the first time Thursday.
“We must continue to fight,” she said after dropping off the donations in her car. “Looks like I’m going to fight even harder.”
Children to feed
Other parents receiving SNAP are preparing for the possibility of skipping their own meals in order to feed their children.
Corbett, a 41-year-old father living in Austin, Indiana, said his family’s $618 monthly SNAP benefits are scheduled to be renewed on Nov. 7. If payment is late for even a day, he said, hunger is a possibility.
The court’s decision Friday was “a little less stress,” Corbett said — it dropped his stress level from 11 to 6 or 7.
Corbett was forced out of the workforce due to debilitating back and joint pain, likely exacerbated by his job as a forklift driver. Her 5-year-old son has non-verbal autism and requires constant care. His wife, Emily, recently lost her part-time job at a gas station, he said, leaving the family without its only source of income.
If their SNAP benefits don’t arrive on time, he and Emily plan to survive on a 24-pack of ramen noodles to ensure their son gets enough food.
“Whatever happens, it will be fed,” Corbett said.
