WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – Dawn Tobias has $3 of benefits left and just days before federal dollars officially stop coming.
“I need groceries. I need cat food. I need gas in the car,” said 64-year-old Tobias, of Ann Arbor. “But with the price of everything that has gone up, that has also made it difficult for everyone.”
Tobias is one of roughly 1.4 million Michigan residents, or 13% of households in the state, who anticipate losing access to food assistance programs as a shutdown of the federal government continues. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service ordered Michigan to pause benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in November…