BATON ROUGE – After state lawmakers announced a plan to pay for SNAP benefits during the federal government shutdown, it became apparent that not everyone currently receiving SNAP in Louisiana would be covered. As an alternative, Gov. Jeff Landry encouraged people in need to head to food banks.
Mike Manning with The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank says on average, in a month, more than 50,000 people use their services, and he’s expecting a substantial increase after the state announced SNAP benefits would not be made available to all state SNAP recipients.
During the late October special legislative session, Gov. Landry and lawmakers leaned on the Louisiana Department of Health to provide emergency state-funded assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the elderly, disabled, or children…