Providence resident Yolanda Robertson, 36, seeks help at Good Neighbors Community Kitchen and Food Pantry in East Providence on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. At left is volunteer Bill Gallant. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
Six hundred dollars can’t cover an entire month of groceries for Yolanda Robertson’s family of five. But it’s a critical piece of how the 36-year-old single mom can put food on the table.
Or at least, it was. Robertson is among the 42 million low-income people nationwide, including 140,000 Rhode Islanders, who stand to lose federal food assistance if the federal government fails to reopen by Nov. 1. In Rhode Island, the payments from the federally funded program amount to $29 million a month, or $348 million a year, according to Gov. Dan McKee’s office…