On Nov. 1, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were frozen as federal funding for the program lapsed one month into the longest government shutdown in United States history.
With SNAP benefits inaccessible, fear and confusion intensified through the first week of November for the 41 million people who depend on supplemental grocery funding. Conflicting information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and appeals from the Trump administration, to court orders mandating the USDA issue the full payment of benefits, created chaos for the people who work in the emergency food system and those who depend on its services.
“I think that the biggest impact of the federal shutdown was just a real sense of fear and uncertainty in our community,” Sam Guerin, the director of operations at the Amherst Survival Center, said. “We saw folks coming back or preparing to come back to the pantry who haven’t visited us in five … six years.”…