News & Updates

“On behalf of the nearly 1.5 million Ohioans – primarily families with children, seniors, and disabled Ohioans – that count on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to help meet their monthly food needs, we thank Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, members of the Ohio General Assembly, and our partners at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services for today’s announcement to provide support for food assistance to help families impacted by the federal government shutdown.

“This meaningful stop-gap funding will assist our statewide foodbank network with its ongoing crisis response and provide additional direct assistance to families with children with very limited resources. The $7 million directed toward foodbanks will help to replenish the food supply we have that is being rapidly depleted.

“Many corporate and retail partners, community foundations, city and county officials, and individual donors have extended support directly to families and to our hunger relief network as we respond to the impact of the shutdown on the frontlines, and we want to also extend our gratitude for their collective support.

“We agree with Governor DeWine that these responses and emergency funds are not a viable, long-term solution. Thank you to our partners at the State of Ohio for identifying resources to support responsive, short-term relief. We want to thank members of Ohio’s congressional delegation for efforts to continue funding for SNAP during the shutdown, including U.S. Senators Husted and Moreno for their co-sponsorship of the Keep SNAP Funded Act of 2025.

“For individuals facing food budget shortfalls who need to locate emergency help with food, please visit ohiofoodbanks.org to Find Your Foodbank and search for food distributions near you. Thank you to the volunteers and helping hands that continue to give of their time in support of their fellow Ohioans as we work together to meet this moment.”

“With the first federal paychecks missed and the shutdown stretching into a third week, Ohio’s foodbanks and local hunger relief partners are working hard to respond to gaps that federal workers are facing. At the same time, we are focused on remaining available to the tens of thousands of Ohioans that turn to our network for help each day when they face budget shortfalls.

“Foodbanks have existed for more than five decades to help families and those in need respond to food shortages. In times of economic disruption and natural disasters, foodbanks serve as key public-private partners working with local food pantries and meal programs to keep food on the table and households stable. As we navigate this shutdown day by day, we continue to communicate with our state agency partners to better understand the impact government-funded assistance programs may face if the shutdown is prolonged. While we stand ready to assist those affected, our resources are already stretched thin, with an average of 1.4 million Ohioans visiting our food pantries each month, and a prolonged shutdown will add strain on our network.

“We are counting on our donors, supporters and communities to step up in any way they can as our network continues its response. This situation underscores the vital role of public-private partnerships in supporting working families. Our partnerships with the USDA and the State of Ohio help support farmers and producers when they face market challenges, while also ensuring Ohio families are nourished. We maximize those partnerships through the power of charitable and corporate giving and local volunteerism. The collective generosity of Ohioans in this moment is essential in supporting our mission — not only in this shutdown season, but as we approach the winter months and holiday season ahead.”

“The passage of the budget reconciliation bill will weaken access to wholesome food and reliable health care for many Ohio families. It includes fundamental, structural and sweeping changes to the nation’s primary food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These changes will be implemented at different intervals over the next three fiscal years and create ongoing uncertainty for communities facing food budget shortfalls and economic instability.

“Our network of 12 regional foodbanks and their 3,600 faith-based and charitable partners remain committed to doing as much as we can to stand side-by-side with children, parents, workers, seniors, and disabled Ohioans striving to keep healthy food on the table. We continue to be motivated to stretch resources in partnership with farmers, manufacturers, retailers, local, state, and federal government agencies and policymakers, and countless donors and volunteers.

“The promise of adequate, nourishing food helps families to think beyond meeting today’s basic needs and focus on pursuing brighter futures. Our resolve to ensure that promise is met across Ohio remains strong, and we will continue to call on our communities to link arms with us so that we can ensure no one in our great state goes hungry.”

The Thanksgiving holiday is known to include tables full of food, but with Ohioans still feeling the effects of federal cuts to SNAP and food banks still bending under the weight of demand, for some the table won’t be quite as full.

The federal government’s shutdown and the hold-up it caused for existing SNAP benefits didn’t help matters. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks served 46% more people at state food pantries from Nov. 1 to Nov. 21 than it had on average in each of the previous months this year.

“This situation underscored the critical importance of SNAP as the first line of defense against hunger for many families, seniors, and disabled Ohioans that would regularly face food budget shortfalls without support from SNAP,” Joree Novotny, executive director of the association, told the Capital Journal.

Even prior to the shutdown, the association was already seeing increases in the first quarter of this year, and had concerns about how they would sustain the help amid growing demand.

“While the impact of the shutdown shined a light on the issue, food insecurity was far too prevalent before the shutdown and remains far too prevalent in its aftermath,” Novotny said.

From July to September of this year, the network saw a 6.7% increase in food provided compared to the same period in 2024, a 14% increase from 2023, and a nearly 41% increase from 2022. This included take-home groceries, hot meals and meals provided at community sites.

Food banks had to accommodate reductions in federal contributions from the USDA, which Novotny said they did by sourcing more than 28 million pounds of donated food, and spending monetary donations on 16.2 million pounds on food. That sourcing made up 70% of all the food provided through the network.

“Normally, federal and state (contributions) represent about half of all of the food our network distributes,” Novotny said. “This level of private purchasing cannot be sustained, particularly by food banks serving areas of the state facing philanthropy gaps and wider disparity in resources.”

A simple addition to Ohio's benefit cards could save thousands of Ohioans from millions of dollars in stolen food assistance.

Unlike most credit cards, Ohio's benefits cards don't have a chip. That makes the cards, known as the Direction Card of Ohio EBT, more susceptible to skimming technology that steals Ohioans' food benefits.

The first week of December coincides with Ohio's annual statewide gun season for deer, and officials are encouraging hunters to think of their communities this fall.

Hunters are being encouraged to donate white-tailed deer throughout December.

Donations will be accepted on Dec. 1, Dec. 3, Dec. 6 and Dec. 7. ODNR said Division of Wildlife staff will be at donation locations to help with drop-offs. For 2025, the division is partnering with the Ohio Penal Industries’ meat processing facility at the Pickaway Correctional Institution (PCI) where all donated deer will go for processing and packaging. The Mid-Ohio Food Collective and the Ohio Association of Foodbanks will handle distribution of the meat.

Officials said one deer can provide up to 200 meals, and the division added that donated venison will go to local food pantries around those who donated.

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks partnered with the Alpaugh Family Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati to evaluate the economic, fiscal, and community impacts of its 12 Feeding America foodbanks across Ohio. This study assessed direct, indirect, and induced effects of foodbank operations on jobs, earnings, state tax revenue, and more. We thank the Economics Center for their expertise and research, which was conducted using fiscal year 2023 data. Full report available upon request.