Interview with CEO Teale Harden
On Monday November 3, funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was expected to be withheld due to the federal government shutdown. More than 41 million Americans (12% of U.S. residents) receive SNAP benefits and without them, would have to rely on food banks.
Two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funding for SNAP, but as of yesterday, recipients are expected to receive only partial benefits and those benefits could be delayed by weeks or months.
In an interview with Teale Harden, CEO of the Alameda Food Bank (AFB), the Alameda Post asked how AFB is stepping up and helping the thousands of people in Alameda County who will be losing SNAP benefits.
How is AFB preparing for the SNAP cuts, both service-wise and financially?
It has been surreal. We just moved into a building on October 20 designed specifically to help us respond to an emergency, and in the first two weeks of operating in that space we have entered that emergency. We were already seeing an increase in need. We were already serving more people than we did during COVID-19, and now this entirely unnecessary and avoidable disruption to SNAP has put thousands of families across our city, county, and country in a terrible position of having to decide how they are going to keep themselves and their families fed.
We have been in constant conversation internally and with partners across the East Bay, including Oakland, Berkeley, and Hayward, to prepare for the uptick in need that we are seeing. We are working together to make sure we are utilizing every resource possible and thinking as a regional community. Our operations team is increasing fresh produce purchasing, coordinating bulk dry good orders with peers to secure the best pricing, and making efficiency changes to check-in and registration. We have suspended recertification for shoppers and are issuing temporary cards so we can move people through the process as quickly as possible and with dignity…