Louisville food pantries brace for surge as SNAP benefits halted during government shutdown

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for millions of Americans are now cut off due to the ongoing government shutdown.

For Louisville, $16 million of SNAP benefits are invested in monthly, and food pantries across the city are looking for ways to feed families who rely on those benefits.

One of those is the nonprofit organization Jewish Family and Career Services.

"Food is a right, and what's happening is people are not going to have access to food," JFCS chief executive officer David Finke said.

Nov. 1 is the 32nd day of the government shutdown and the deadline for SNAP benefits and EBT cards to expire, causing food pantries like the one at JFCS to step up and help more families in need.

"Anticipating that there's going to be a higher need in November and now that we have individuals who may be in danger of losing their benefits, we're going to have even more demand," Finke said.

JFCS is trying to fill the gap that losing access to SNAP benefits is expected to cause. One of the ways they're doing that is by opening the food pantry on additional days.

The 5th Friday and Monday of every month, they usually don't have the pantry open, but on Oct. 31, Finke said they made an exception because of the upcoming cuts.

"Knowing that people were losing their benefits on Saturday and did not have adequate time to prepare for that, we opened an additional food pantry this Friday," Finke said.

This upcoming week the pantry will be open Monday and Wednesday evenings and Friday mornings as well.

Finke said they also usually tell families to only come twice a month, but he said they're changing that while SNAP benefits are halted.

"This month, families can come every week if they need to," Finke said.

JFCS is a Dare to Care food pantry, and they have specific zip codes it serves, but now it will be open to anyone who needs food.

Finke said JFCS also provided information and evidence regarding the impact that the halting of SNAP benefits was going to have on the community in a lawsuit against the Trump administration that was heard in Rhode Island.

"This was an opportunity for our clients to be heard in the legal system, and it was an opportunity for us to address the clients need on more of a systems level, and so we felt it was our obligation to participate in this," Finke said.

On Friday, Oct. 31, two federal judges ruled President Donald Trump's administration must continue to pay for SNAP using emergency funds during the government shutdown.

President Trump posted on social media Friday saying, "If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay."

There's still uncertainty about how things will delay payments for people whose EBT cards would normally be recharged at the beginning of the month.

Now leaders at food pantries said they're gearing up to see an increase in people.

"We'll continue to ask the community to provide because we do need continued support," Finke said.

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