$1M Response Fund For Food, Heating Assistance Amid SNAP Cutoff In Worcester

WORCESTER, MA — The city announced on Thursday that it will allocate $250,000 to United Way of Central Massachusetts' United Response Fund, which will be used to provide food and heating assistance to residents.

The funding is part of a $1 million stopgap measure to help keep food and fuel in the homes of Worcester residents. This comes as the federal food aid program, SNAP, is set to run out of funding on Saturday.

A quarter of Worcester's population will lose SNAP benefits, totaling 80,000 people in Worcester County. UWCM will oversee the distribution of the funds, according to the city.

The city announced this at an emergency press conference on Thursday afternoon, where city and state leaders spoke, including Mayor Joe Petty, City Manager Eric D. Batista and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester).

“This summer, Trump and Republicans passed their Big Ugly Bill—the largest cut to food assistance in American history — in order to give more tax breaks to billionaires," said Rep. Jim McGovern at Thursday's press conference. "They are using the shutdown as a pretext to take food off the tables of millions and millions of working families, kids, seniors, and veterans — and to take fuel assistance away from struggling folks right as it starts to get cold out. What a rotten, terrible thing to do."

The total funding includes a $250,000 match from the UWCM, $150,000 from the Worcester County Food Bank, $100,000 from the Worcester Railers Hockey Club, $87,500 from the Esler Family Foundation, and $75,170 from a private donor, and other generous donations.

City leaders also added that $150,000 will be set aside for Worcester Public School families in the form of $100 grocery store gift cards. Plus, a remaining $100,000 will be given to the Worcester Community Action Council for fuel assistance.

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