Media Coverage

As demand for food assistance continues to rise across her community, Stephanie Sweany, executive director of the Stark County Hunger Task Force, said the situation feels all too familiar.

“I was here through COVID. And I would kind of compare the need and sort of the desperation that people are feeling, and the uncertainty that people are feeling, to COVID,” she said.

Sweany has watched as the federal government shutdown led to the suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this month, putting greater pressure on food banks already stretched thin by earlier federal cuts. As the matter pinballed through the courts, the standoff between the federal government and the states over SNAP deepened, even as a deal to fund the government appeared close.

On Nov. 9, the Trump administration ordered states to “immediately undo” any “unauthorized” SNAP payments for the month. At the same time, progress toward ending the shutdown emerged when eight Democratic senators joined Republicans in backing a plan to break the weeks-long deadlock. The proposal would reopen the government, restore funding for SNAP and other programs and guarantee back pay for furloughed workers, but it leaves out the expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting to preserve as millions face rising insurance costs.

In the meantime, state officials across the country are scrambling to feed their residents, and local food banks are bracing for another surge in need.

hared Harvest Food Bank, which serves five regional counties, will receive $1.43 million from the state of Ohio amid the suspension of SNAP benefits.

But not all of those funds will be spent in the foodbank’s five-county region.

Due to the federal government shutdown, benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, were suspended for the month of November causing food banks and food pantries to wonder how to keep their shelves filled.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine reaffirmed a plan on Thursday that he announced last month to provide up to $25 million in support of food assistance to families affected by the suspension of SNAP benefits.

The first part of the plan was directing the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to provide $7 million to regional food banks across Ohio. Shared Harvest Foodbank will receive $1.43 million, according to the governor’s office.

Shared Harvest Executive Director Terry Purdue said the foodbank “holds a contract for not just our food bank but four other food banks in Ohio covering a total of 31 counties.”

The Dayton Food Bank will receive approximately $420,000 to serve Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties.

The Ohio Foodbank Association’s Executive Director, Joree Novotny, said the funds were much greater before the shutdown.

“We’re usually moving in and out $32 million worth of food every month across the state already,” Novotny said.

However, Novotny said anything will help at this time.

“We’re very grateful for the additional $7 million to help buy food, but it’s not going to fill all the gaps,” Novotny said.

Local food banks and pantries are seeing an even greater need because federal workers are not getting paychecks.

“Yesterday, we served 145 clients. Today, we served 129,” Greene County Fish Pantry Executive Director Mike Reeves said. “We did 25 brand new families. Today, it was about 15. Almost every one of them says it’s due to snap issues.”

Around 1.4 million Ohioans receive help buying groceries from SNAP, also known as food stamps.

That's about 12% of the state's population benefiting from food assistance, according to the Center for Community Solutions.

This includes 57-year-old Amy Sherlock of Goshen, Ohio. She is currently receiving disability benefits and received SNAP assistance for years when she was raising three children and working over 50 hours a week as a restaurant manager.

"SNAP isn’t handouts to lazy people, it’s supplementing poor wages paid by corporations who are making record profits off the backs of their underpaid employees," Sherlock said.

Sherlock and others receiving food assistance are now at risk of food insecurity as the federal government shutdown turns into the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The Trump administration is rerouting $4.65 billion to the program. This is nearly half of the typical $8 billion SNAP recipients receive each month.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Some of Ohio’s $263 million in monthly food assistance is expected to arrive soon, according to the Trump administration, but it’s still unclear when or how much.

President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it will partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after two federal judges ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep the program running during the federal shutdown.

When Kyra Gleckler heard about the impending disruptions to SNAP starting Sunday, she felt called to take action.

“I myself have been on SNAP before when I was a single parent,” she said. “It’s something kids are going to suffer from and they don’t have anything to do with it.”

So she made a Facebook post, asking if anyone would be interested in collecting donations or cooking community meals.

Five days later, a group of about 20 volunteers gathered to brainstorm. Gleckler said they’ve already received enough donations to form a small nonprofit called Guernsey County Community Growth.

The group will put together food distribution boxes for community members and bags to send home with local students.

Gleckler is one of many community leaders throughout southeast Ohio mobilizing to support those at risk of soon going without SNAP benefits.

If the ongoing federal shutdown continues into November, SNAP recipients will not see new benefits loaded onto their accounts, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Those with a remaining balance in will still be able to access those funds.

While the Trump administration said last week it could not continue to fund SNAP during the shutdown, several state leaders suing the federal government disagree.