South Bend community members prepared for possible disruption to SNAP benefits
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One in five South Bend residents utilizes the SNAP program, and the community is working to put together a plan to prepare for an anticipated disruption of benefits that would impact thousands of families across St. Joseph County.
For first-time volunteer Anne Thacker, helping out at the Portage Pantry offers a sense of control during uncertain times.
“But there’s only so many phone calls and emails I can write and so to actually have something that I can physically do is a big help to my mental health because it’s very stressful, very upsetting,” Thacker said.
Local food pantries, including the Portage Pantry ,are already seeing increased need this month, with 70% of people coming in for the first time.
Volunteers and township leaders are bracing for what could come next.
“And we just, there’s a lot of scenarios that we’re running right now,” said Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow. “We’re planning for the day that our food pantry is open, but if there’s a run on Wednesday, we start reloading again. That’s what’s maddening with this situation because this could end tomorrow or in three months.”
The USDA estimates that for every dollar of SNAP benefits, there’s $1.50 in benefits to the region. St. Joseph County is preparing to lose about $6 million in November alone, which would be an estimated $9 to $10 million economic impact.
Local grocers, including Dave Matthews who owns the East Race Market, are also feeling the concern. Matthews said about 15% of his customers rely on EBT benefits, and the store will be putting out a table for free produce.
“I don’t know that we are preparing. I mean, right now we’re just trying to help the community and do what we can,” Matthews said.
On Wednesday night, South Bend Common Council member Oliver Davis Jr. and Black Lives Matter South Bend held an online news conference urging the city to use $4.8 million of its $12 million rainy day fund to assist residents during what they’re calling a “serious crisis.”
Now, Davis said he just hopes to have a realistic conversation between the council and city staff about any ways those reserves could be used, including funding existing food assistance programs and using city parks as distribution centers. He said he was dropping off a resolution to hold this discussion Thursday evening.
“And so whichever way we have to realize that the federal government has come home to South Bend and this is not times as usual,and no matter what we have to do, we gotta do it,” said Davis.
Critchlow said the Emergency Food Initiative has been reactivated and will hold weekly meetings until a solution is found.
“I just really appreciate the conversation, because country, local governments cities, counties, even states, are kind of saying, what can we do to support these efforts? Because from the city of South Bend’s standpoint, they’re not gonna be able to fill a $6 million gap. They’re simply not gonna be able to do that. So I think the question everybody’s asking is, well, what can we do now?”
Thacker hopes those answers come soon.
“This is a rainy day for God’s sake, and we’re gonna do what we can to address it,” she said.
Mayor James Mueller is standing by his earlier response this week, saying the city’s available resources are not enough and that the only sustainable solution is for the federal government to resume critical services like SNAP.
"The reckless partisan brinkmanship in Washington must end now because the only solution for avoiding unnecessary hardship on families is to reopen the federal government and resume critical services like SNAP," said Mayor James Mueller. "Sensible members of Congress can still avert this emerging crisis before any SNAP payments are missed starting November 5.In the event that payments are delayed by the shutdown, the City is in conversations with state officials on ways to address this critical need,” he added in a statement Thursday.