With SNAP payments frozen, food assistance groups in Pennsylvania are bracing for an influx of people in need, and some individuals are stepping up to share resources and food.
More than 20,000 people in Blair County get SNAP benefits. Jennifer Walter, who lives in Altoona, is helping to get the word out on where people can go to get food during the SNAP freeze. She said she personally knows dozens of people who will be impacted.
“It makes me so sad," Walter said. "And at one time I was a single mom. It would have impacted me, you know? And that's another reason I feel like it's important to get the information out there. I know what it was like.”
Walter made a list on social media that has been shared over a hundred times. She also printed it out to put on display at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, where she studies.
There’s another woman in Altoona who plans to run a soup kitchen out of her home. Others plan to give out shelf-stable food during Trick or Treating.
Meanwhile, official food assistance groups are also gearing up. Mel Curtis, the Anti-Hunger Program Director at the Moshannon Valley YMCA, said they’re working on emergency boxes to hand out to families.
“We're looking at potentially going into all the areas that we serve and do large food distributions," Curtis said. "We're talking with farmers to see if they have foods that are available that they haven't been able to get rid of. I mean, we're basically opening up the door.”
Food banks are telling SNAP recipients to reach out to them for help.
The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank said it’s fundraising and giving extra money to its 1,100 partner agencies, including the State College Food Bank.
Zach Zook, the chief strategy officer at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, said that money will help, but it won't be enough to supplement millions of missing dollars from the federal government. He said SNAP provides about $67 million every month to central Pennsylvanians.
"There's not really a way for us to make up for the loss of SNAP," Zook said. "We are going to do all that we can to try to fill in gaps. But in terms of magnitude, no. That's where we're still assessing if we could do more. But I think replacing $67 million is a tall order and not something that the (charitable food) system can do."
Zook said SNAP recipients should continue to fill out their paperwork even though benefits are paused.
"Once the program is restored, we don't want people to face an interruption in benefits because they missed required paperwork or anything like that," Zook said.
SNAP payments are usually sent out at the beginning of the month.
