Introduction to the Crisis
The south suburban Rich Township Food Pantry drew hundreds of people on Thursday afternoon for its twice-weekly distribution, with the crowd being larger than usual due to the looming cutoff of SNAP benefits in November. Jason Webb, a 40-year-old man, was among the approximately 600 people who arrived at the pantry. He receives roughly $300 each month in SNAP benefits, which he splits between his family and his elderly mother living by herself. The aid supplements his income from a part-time restaurant job that he uses to help put food on his family’s tables.
The Impact of SNAP Cutoff
Webb was unsure of how he would get more assistance, shaking his head and saying, “I have no plans.” Meanwhile, two federal judges separately ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must pay for November’s SNAP benefits using contingency funding. The administration will have until Monday to decide whether it will partially or fully fund the benefits. However, it wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that SNAP recipients use to buy groceries could be reloaded, a process that often takes one to two weeks.
Increased Demand at the Pantry
Rich Township Food Pantry usually serves 80 to 100 people every distribution day, said Riette Woods, the pantry coordinator. On Thursday, Woods said staff and volunteers prepared extra food bags because of the increased demand for food. She added that the Richton Park pantry also is looking to open more days of the week. Inside the pantry, paper and blue cloth bags filled with groceries to the brim lined tables and shelves, alongside milk cartons, meat, eggs, and baked goods.
Community Response
Groceries are organized and prepared to be given away Thursday at a food distribution site in Richton Park. Several shopping carts were full of other bags containing vegetables and fruit. Staff and volunteers zipped between cars to put the bags into trunks and back seats. Jane Donovan, 71, of Richton Park, said she depends on SNAP benefits to feed her family, even though her $80 in benefits is a drop in the bucket. She said she already visits three to four food pantries each month to fill the gap but is now looking for more places to get help.
Leadership Response
Rich Township Supervisor Calvin Jordan said Thursday’s distribution will serve as an assessment of the need for food in the community. He said he already is coordinating with other municipal and community leaders to fill the gap if SNAP goes away. “You gotta feed people, that’s serious,” Jordan said. “If you look here, you see people, they drive, they get here early, they spend money on gas. We got to be able to help.”
Call to Action
Cook County Commissioner Kisha McCaskill, who joined Jordan at the pantry, said she and other commissioners are making food security a top priority and working to identify areas of need across the county, though “funds will be as tight as food.” McCaskill on Thursday called on President Donald Trump and lawmakers in Washington for a quick resolution of the food crisis. “We appeal to the president because we know that it’s a matter of his authority to say yes or no,” McCaskill said. “We can make all the noise we want, but until we come together in a concerted effort and put things forward, nothing is going to change.”
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