KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As the potential loss of federal SNAP benefits looms, East Tennessee organizations and local businesses are preparing to step up and fill the gap for families in need.
Love Kitchen, a Knoxville organization that has served the community for nearly four decades, said it’s already planning for an increase in people seeking food assistance. Volunteers there serve thousands of hot meals each week, both on-site and to people who are homebound.
“We’ve already seen the number of people we serve go up by maybe five to 10 people a day,” Executive Director Martin Riggins said. “Right now, if you show up, we’ll give you two meals. But if we start to run low, we’ll cut it back to one meal per person — that doubles the number of people we can serve.”…