A Lancaster County college student pictures filling their stomach with rice and beans day after day. A single father from Scranton doesn’t know how he’ll provide his toddler with her favorite snack puffs. A grandmother from Erie wonders if she’ll be able to serve her family Thanksgiving dinner.
These Pennsylvanias are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal initiative often known as food stamps, and all of them were alarmed in late October when they learned of an abrupt — and open-ended — suspension in their benefits.
More: When will SNAP benefits resume? Here’s what USDA says
November was the first time in SNAP’s six-decade history that the flow of benefits stopped, as President Donald Trump’s administration declared the program’s funding had dried up because of the government shutdown. Administrators of the anti-hunger program that feeds about one in eight Pennsylvanians each month do have billions of dollars in reserves but argued it would be illegal to tap into this funding to keep food stamps going.
In Pennsylvania, which gets about $366 million each month in federal nutrition assistance, food bank operators said they were not equipped to replace SNAP, and state officials stressed that the commonwealth could not backfill these costs. On top of that, a cascade of legal actions and federal directives fueled additional confusion about when benefits will resume and whether they’ll be full or partial.
That left recipients hanging, wondering if policymakers would resolve their differences before their cupboards run bare. In interviews with the USA TODAY Network, they said they were losing sleep over the program’s halt, cutting meat from their diet to save money and worrying about how they’ll find groceries that meet their specific health needs.
Though the government has now reopened, and officials have said they’re resuming payments, the two-week lapse has exposed the proximity of hunger in many people’s lives and highlighted the vulnerability of programs that keep millions of households afloat.
“I feel like I can no longer depend on it for support,” said Charli Hoffman, a SNAP recipient. “The ease with which they didn’t send out benefits that I qualify for made me both upset and deeply aware of how the system is fragile.”
More: As hunger rises in Pa., Little Free Pantry movement helps neighbors feed each other
Rice, beans and black coffee
Even bread isn’t cheap for Hoffman, a Lancaster County sociology student who has an autoimmune condition that requires dietary restrictions. For Hoffman, each gluten-free loaf costs roughly $8.
The 36-year-old SNAP recipient, who uses they/them pronouns, is rebuilding their life one brick at a time after decades of trauma, mental health struggles and a violent relationship.
But as a full-time student at Millersville University, they depend on food benefits to make their life work right now.
Hoffman does some work as an online coach and virtual assistant but can’t devote much time to it between the demands of school and their health considerations. In addition to celiac disease, they have post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder that causes pain and exhaustion.
Their roughly $225 in monthly benefits amounts to their entire food budget, but it only covers about half the month’s groceries. Because of Hoffman’s health conditions, processed food is generally off-limits and certain basic items, like bread, are more expensive.
Hoffman turns to food pantries to fill the gap but has to forgo many of the boxed products and canned goods that they offer.
“If I go to a food bank, I have to give back at least half of what I receive,” they said. “I always do it right on site, because I’m not going to take it home where it’s just not getting eaten.”
The student’s bread and milk had already run out by the end of October, and they weren’t exactly sure how they’d last through November without benefits, although they’ll likely seek help from local safety net providers. Aside from that, they were looking at days of rice and beans and creamerless coffee.
“I’ve been in worse situations,” said Hoffman, who said they were homeless for a period as a teenager. “I’m really hoping this is temporary.”
Fed by friends
Osborne, a grandmother from Erie, said the absence of SNAP benefits could force her to lean on friends and family members to meet her basic nutritional needs.
The former hospital worker receives about $285 in monthly benefits to feed herself and her son, who supports her financially but doesn’t earn enough to pay all the bills.
Osborne, 48, said she hasn’t been able to work since she began suffering seizures a few years ago, a condition that made it unsafe for her to drive and resulted in the loss of her license. She’s only recently gotten it back after finding a medication that stabilized her epilepsy.
The SNAP allotment helps, she said, but it typically doesn’t last the whole month, especially because her son is diabetic and has special dietary needs.
“That’s two visits to the store,” she said of the monthly sum.
So even in normal times, friends or relatives will drop off groceries or gift cards to tide her over until SNAP reloads. If her benefits, which typically land on her benefit card mid-month, are delayed this time around, this social network is her primary backup plan.
In a normal year, she’d plan on hosting Thanksgiving for her sons and grandson. This November, she said, the annual feast might not happen at all.
More: Erie’s most vulnerable people are hurting, how to get real about the food crisis | Opinion
‘I just want to provide’
Brian Moore, a single father of two in Scranton, works full time in a factory that assembles construction cones and other crowd control devices. Between rent, a car payment and nearly $300-per-week in childcare costs, he has little left.
The 44-year-old used to have a more lucrative job, but the company that employed him shut down, and supplementing his current income with part-time work is off the table because it would mean barely seeing his young children. So for the past 18 months, his family has depended on SNAP to get by.
More: Affording holiday meals could be an extra struggle for SNAP recipients, study says
His monthly food payment of about $600 doesn’t pay for everything, but Moore says it goes a long way.
When he learned about the delay in benefits, he predicted he’d have to turn to local food banks for assistance. But he worried the charities wouldn’t offer his 2-year-old daughter’s favorite granola bars and Gerber crunchies and that she might have to go without the foods she loves.
More: Pa. starts issuing food stamp benefits as Trump admin orders states to ‘undo’ payments
Moore’s parents died several years ago, and he isn’t originally from Pennsylvania, so he has no support system in the area. The pressure of meeting his family’s needs weighs solely on him, he said.
“I just want to provide for my family and do what I can to support them,” he said.
On Nov. 7, days after Moore would normally receive his monthly allotment, the money finally showed up on the benefit card he uses to buy groceries. A court ruling against the Trump administration had unleashed about $70 million in funding for Pennsylvanians reliant on SNAP, and he was one of the recipients who got benefits before a subsequent legal decision halted the aid again.
But many others, including Hoffman and Osborne, were still waiting.
After the shutdown ended Nov. 12, state officials pledged to restore benefits to recipients by the week’s close.
Bethany Rodgers is a USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania investigative journalist.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: PA SNAP recipients scrimped, strategized amid lapse in benefits
