Local Food Banks Prep As Pandemic Food Benefits End In MA

WORCESTER, MA — The 635,000 people in Massachusetts who have been depending on emergency federal food assistance will face harder choices after the government’s pandemic-era emergency SNAP program ended Thursday.

The move by the U.S. Agriculture Department, which manages the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, comes as Americans are already paying about 11.3 percent more for groceries than they did at this time last year, according to the Labor Department’s most recent inflation report. In Massachusetts, 635,072 people were receiving the benefits each month.

For the 31 million Americans who live in the 32 states and the District of Columbia that have received the SNAP emergency allotments, it means their monthly benefits will be reduced by an average of $182. As the program ends, SNAP benefits for those families could be about $6 per person per day, The Washington Post reported.

Local food banks will likely pick up the slack in Massachusetts.

According to Newton-based Lovin' Spoonfuls, families in Massachusetts were getting at minimum a $95 boost during the pandemic SNAP increase. Absorbing that cut will be tough for the state's network of food banks.

"Over 16 percent of Massachusetts' households (and over 21 percent of households with children) are facing food insecurity. More people are likely to turn to food programs, like their local pantry, for help putting food on the table. This can be challenging for food programs, too, as they work to meet an increased need," Lovin' Spoonfuls said ahead of the SNAP benefit end.

Lovin' Spoonfuls advised people who are losing the federal benefits to contact the state Department of Transitional Assistance to see if their circumstances might qualify them for higher SNAP benefits. Those circumstances include a rent or mortgage increase, or medical expenses tied to the care of an elderly or disabled family member.

Framingham's Pearl Street Café — which serves hot meals to people in need — reopened for sit-down service on Wednesday for the first time since March 2020, offering a new option for locals. But the service is badly in need of volunteers.

"There are so many more families needing help due to the current economy, and, with expanded
services at Pearl Street Cupboard and Café, additional volunteers are needed to support the volume. We cannot do what we do in the community without our dedicated volunteers," Pearl Street Café volunteer director Barbara LaGrenade said in a news release.

The Pearl Street food operation is part of the United Way of Tri-County's network, which includes the Marlborough Community Cupboard, Pearl Street Cupboard, WHEAT Community Cupboard in Clinton and the MetroWest CrossDock.

Pearl Street Cupboard pantry director Joe Mina said the end of expanded SNAP "will hit our clients pretty hard" combined with food price inflation. Items like eggs — whose cost soared 70 percent over the past year — diapers and easy-to-make food like SpaghettiOs are always in high demand, but Mina said the pantry has been able to keep shelves stocked through partnerships with larger food banks and rescuing edible but unwanted food from stores.

SNAP benefits automatically adjust for the cost of living every October, increasing 12.5 percent in October 2022, but significant gains are quickly erased with persistently high food prices.

From Feb. 4 to 13, more than 25.5 million Americans lived in households where there was sometimes or often not enough to eat, according to data from the Census Bureau’s latest Household Pulse Survey. In Massachusetts, about 9 percent were food insecure during that time period — a nearly 2 percent rise over the previous survey period.

“People are making agonizing choices between whether to pay their rent, pay a medical bill, pay a credit card bill or buy food,” Vince Hall, the chief government relations officer for Feeding America, a nonprofit network of more than 200 food banks that provided more than 5 billion meals last year, has said.

Food insecurity isn't limited to any single group. The Massachusetts Hunger-Free Campus Coalition has estimated that about 37 percent of public university students in the state are food insecure.

Ahead of the SNAP cut, the grocery chain Hannaford last week donated $50,000 to community college campuses across Massachusetts to boost food programs. At Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, that will mean more food options for the estimated 30 percent of its students experiencing food insecurity, and the continuation of a refrigerated van that distributes food to students.

Food stamp recipients in 18 states have already seen their benefits return to normal levels after their state governments declined the extra food assistance, reasoning that pandemic assistance programs contributed to a worker shortage, according to a Pew Research study.

Overall, the SNAP program provides critical food assistance to about 41 million Americans. The program has kept about 4.2 million Americans out of poverty at the end of 2021, the latest year for which data is available, according to a study from the Urban Institute.

The study also found that states that were still offering the emergency food assistance had reduced poverty overall by 9.6 percent and child poverty by 14 percent.

Experts on food insecurity have long argued that SNAP benefits are historically too low. In 2021, the Agriculture Department updated its “Thrifty Food Plan,” the standard used to set SNAP benefits based on the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet, and that increased benefits by an average of $36 a month, a 21 percent increase.

Several Democrats have introduced legislation to boost SNAP benefits over time. They face an unfriendly battleground in the Republican-controlled House, where leaders plan to cut food stamp benefits and add more work requirements as part of a broader plan to cut government spending.

Need help with food or want to donate to a food bank in Massachusetts? See Project Bread's list of all food banks in Massachusetts.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations.

Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.