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Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. CNN reports that two federal judges, in Massachusetts and in Rhode Island, ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can use contingency funding to pay SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. The news agency notes that still means payments could be delayed.
With the federal government shutdown less than a week away from becoming the longest in history, millions of Americans are facing a devastating outcome: a halt to the delivery of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits.
The anti-hunger program relied on by nearly 42 million people, about 39 percent of them children, will run out of money on November 1.
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the SNAP program, blames the ongoing government shutdown for the potential funding lapse. The department argues that contingency funds that would keep SNAP going through the shutdown are “not legally available,” according to NBC News.
A group of over two dozen Democratic attorneys general and governors sued the Trump administration over its decision to suspend SNAP assistance during the shutdown, NPR reports.
With a major rise in food insecurity on the horizon, Unitarian Universalists are taking action to strengthen their food support programs, establish mutual aid funds, and care for their communities.
In a blog post, the UUA states that a halt to SNAP benefits would mean “millions of Americans, including more than 15 million children, will go hungry starting this week,” adding that a SNAP pause would be “a moral scandal and an affront to our Unitarian Universalist (UU) values of interdependence and generosity.”
The UUA post includes a list of congregations providing food assistance to their communities. To add your congregation, fill out this form.
Love in Action: UUs Mount Rapid Response to Avoid Hunger
UUs across the country are moving swiftly to provide assistance to their neighbors.
“It is a profound moral failing that our nation is choosing to cut off food assistance to hungry people for political gain. …But together, we can help each other and our neighbors survive this time of struggle with compassion and dignity.”
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville, Alabama, for example, is offering food support to its community through its Little Food Pantry, an outdoor pantry accessible to all, as well as its Community Fridge and Minister’s Discretionary Fund, allowing the congregation to provide direct financial assistance to individuals and families.
The minister of UUCH, Rev. Jaimie Simon, wrote on the congregation’s Facebook page about the hunger crisis, saying, “It is a profound moral failing that our nation is choosing to cut off food assistance to hungry people for political gain. …But together, we can help each other and our neighbors survive this time of struggle with compassion and dignity.”
“If you are personally struggling, there is absolutely no shame in asking for help, and our congregation truly wants to help you,” Simon added.
At the Fox Valley UU Fellowship in Wisconsin, the community acted quickly to set up a mutual aid fund in response to SNAP benefits pausing.
Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy, who is co-minister of the congregation along with Rev. Hannah Roberts Villnave, said that after their last Sunday service several people approached her and indicated they need help.
“In less than one week I have written [Minister’s Discretionary Fund] checks for a total of $1,000,” Leone-Tracy said.
Leone-Tracy said the congregation has responded to the rising need for food with swift generosity, donating “about $3,000 to the fund in [the past week], so we feel confident that we can continue to help people.”
Rev. Kären Rasmussen, a UU minister who leads the nonprofit No Child Goes Hungry, said the beginning of the holiday season makes the possible absence of SNAP even more harmful.
“When people are going into the holidays and don’t have SNAP benefits, and schools are closed so kids don’t have free and reduced lunches, then kids don’t eat,” she said.
Rasmussen said No Child Goes Hungry has received a surge in requests for food support, and said she is eager to provide congregations with grant-based funding.
“If a congregation contacts me, I can get stuff to them that week. Food, a pantry, a shed,” said Rasmussen. She particularly encouraged congregations to consider setting up an outdoor food pantry, as they provide convenient 24/7 access to supplies.
At the South Bay Food Pantry, operated by the First UU Church of San Diego, the congregation serves over 600 families each week, said Rev. Kristen Kuriga, the congregation’s assistant minister.
Speaking to the importance of fighting hunger in this moment, Kuriga said food assistance work embodies “our fundamental values as Unitarian Universalists.”
“We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person,” said Kuriga. “So no one has to prove their income, no one has to prove that they need food. The premise we come from is, if you say you need food, here it is. Everyone deserves to be fed.”
“The premise we come from is, if you say you need food, here it is. Everyone deserves to be fed.”
Based on her experience working at the food pantry, Kuriga said she believes other churches that want to help fight hunger may find it surprisingly accessible, saying “it actually doesn’t take a ton of money to run a food distribution.”
By working with local partners such as the San Diego Food Bank, and picking up food from grocery stores and bakeries that would otherwise go to a landfill, Kuriga said her congregation found that it costs “just a dollar a week to provide 15 to 20 pounds of fresh food to a family.”
Kuriga said that working to end food insecurity in her community “gives [her] a lot of hope.”
“There is enough food [in the country], right?” Kuriga said. The problem isn’t that there’s a shortage of food. It’s the inequity of how that food is distributed to people. …We’re interrupting that model by saying there’s enough food, and we are going to claim it for our community, and then figure out how to redistribute it fairly amongst us.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Rev. Jaimie Simon’s first name.