KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT) – November SNAP benefits are facing uncertainty because of the government shutdown, leaving local organizations preparing for increased demand for food assistance.
“Well, you can only imagine if you can’t meet your basic needs, how do you focus on other things like jobs,” Tess Frear with Helping Mamas, an organization focused on supplying families with resources, said. No new SNAP benefits will be added to cards starting Nov. 1, though existing benefits on cards can still be used.
“So, the funds that people are going to be using are going to be to purchase food now” Frear said. “So that’s going to probably affect their rent, their gas, everything.”
WIC maintains emergency funding
WIC, the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, does have emergency funding available in Tennessee. Some of the program’s benefits overlap with SNAP, but some say it won’t be enough to meet demand.
“This is just an unplanned thing that we got to, we got to push through,” Frear said.
Local organizations step up support
Helping Mamas works to give parents and children resources including baby formula, clothing and diapers. The organization expects higher demand for items that SNAP and WIC typically provide.
“We have to meet those most basic needs so that they can continue moving forward, continue working, continue going to school, continue diapering their child and feeding their child,” Frear said.
Fresh food is also in high demand, prompting Nourish Knoxville to adjust its programs. The organization typically doubles SNAP dollars at farmers markets, meaning when a SNAP user spends $25, they receive $50 to spend on food.
“I mean, it’s really connecting our community to local food and supporting those local growers and producers so that they continue to participate in our local food system. SNAP is a huge part of that and we’re interested to see where this will go,” Chief Operating Officer of Nourish Knoxville Ellie Moore said.
Program adjustments to help stretch benefits
With the shutdown affecting new SNAP benefits, Nourish Knoxville faces challenges with its doubling program. “If there’s no SNAP to double, then we can’t stretch those benefits,” Moore said. To help people with remaining SNAP benefits, the organization is now tripling benefits instead of doubling them. “Some folks will still have snap benefits on their cards, so they can still bring those down and stretch their dollars a little bit further at the farmers market until those run out,” Moore said.
