This story was originally published in NC Newsline.
Food banks in North Carolina are bracing for a surge in demand as federal nutrition benefits begin to run dry on Friday.
SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, helps feed about 1.4 million North Carolinians each month. The federal government shutdown means benefits for November are suspended.
On Monday, the state Department of Health and Human Services warned people who use SNAP that their next round of monthly benefits won’t arrive on schedule.
More than 580,000 children rely on SNAP, NCDHHS said in a news release, and more than 80% of people who receive food benefits are working.
Food banks are doing what they can, though their directors know there’s no way they can fill the gap.
For every nine meals provided through SNAP, food banks provide one, said Liz Reasoner, CEO of Food Bank of the Albemarle.
“We’re trying to approach this from a disaster mitigation strategy,” she said.
The state’s food banks, which supply food pantries and other distributors, were already feeling a financial pinch. A federal program that helped food banks nationwide purchase locally grown food was cancelled this year. The state legislature had routinely appropriated money to food banks, but did not include them in this year’s stopgap budgets.
The Food Bank of the Albemarle decided to pay for seeds and labor for a local farm to grow vegetables, Reasoner said. “One way we can mitigate some of the loss is by investing in intentional planting programs.”
The government shutdown was putting pressure on nonprofits before the SNAP suspension. A food pantry in Elizabeth City saw a 50% increase in traffic last Saturday, which Reasoner attributed to paychecks lost through the government shutdown.
“We knew it was going to happen,” she said, as households adjusted their budgets to account for limited cash.
Federal benefits that help pay for baby formula set to run out
N.C. Rep. Monika Johnson-Hostler spent part of Monday calling people about providing formula to babies who will lose access to it when funding for the federal nutrition program focused on infants, young children and their mothers runs out.
With the attention on SNAP, Johnson-Hostler (D-Wake) worried that people won’t know that federal support for parents buying baby formula is also at risk.
“That’s what’s scary to me,” she said. “I don’t think people knew it was happening.”
Money for the federal nutrition program Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, won’t end as soon as SNAP does, but won’t last too much longer than the larger program.
NCDHHS said in an email that benefits will last until early November, but did not give an exact end date.
Wake County said in an email that WIC will issue benefits through Nov. 15.
More than 262,000 babies, pregnant women, new mothers, and young children in North Carolina use WIC, according to NCDHHS.
Wake County is advising mothers who are supplementing breast milk with formula to increase breastfeeding to help boost milk supply.
Pediatricians may be a short-term source of formula, Wake’s email said. In special cases, WIC will coordinate with hospitals or manufacturers to arrange for direct deliveries, the email said.
Political finger-pointing
In a statement Monday, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein urged the USDA to use federal contingency funds to keep SNAP benefits available after Nov. 1. The USDA said last week it would not use contingency fund to help cover the cost, the New York Times reported.
“The administration’s refusal to use these available funds as temperatures cool and the Thanksgiving holiday approaches is a cruel abdication of the responsibility to support families and communities,” Stein’s statement said.
Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration continue to blame Democrats for the shutdown that threatens to suspend food benefits in days.
Most Democrats have voted against a short-term budget in an effort to pressure Republicans to extend Affordable Care Act marketplace tax credits for health care coverage.
U.S.House Speaker Mike Johnson defended USDA’s decision not to use the contingency fund.
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.