In East Chicago, Indiana, the recent Paying It Forward community meal saw the participation of 72 attendees at a local church. However, with November approaching, founder Tamye Longoria, who herself relies on SNAP benefits, acknowledges that the demand is likely to outweigh resources.
“We’re facing a crisis of hunger,” Longoria remarked.
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As of Saturday, November 1, a significant number of families across the country might lose their access to SNAP benefits.
In a recent development, two federal judges issued nearly simultaneous decisions requiring the Trump administration to maintain SNAP funding through contingency funds during the government shutdown. Despite this ruling, there is uncertainty about the speed at which beneficiaries’ grocery debit cards will be recharged, a process that typically takes one to two weeks. Moreover, these decisions are expected to be contested in appeals.
Longoria, who is unable to pursue a conventional 9-to-5 job due to a disability, is among those affected by the potential loss of benefits.
“I’ll have to rely on food pantries myself, managing with perhaps just one meal per day,” Longoria shared.
Despite her own challenges, it is not stopping her from hosting her monthly Warm Heart community meals through her foundation, Paying It Forward. With the help of East Chicago Church, they provide full dinners and sometimes gifts, for anyone dealing with food insecurity.
“It’s going to be literally, do I pay my rent? Do I feed my family?” Longoria said.
In the Chicagoland metro area, 12% of households receive SNAP benefits. That’s more than 450,000 families. Of those households 42.1% include someone with a disability, 39.5% include an elderly person, and 46.3% have a minor.
“I don’t let them know that, like, oh, mommy’s struggling to put food on the table for you guys,” said Kelli Brinnehl.
Brinnehl, a mother of three, says her link card that accesses SNAP benefits was hacked into during the past few months.
“With losing it the last couple months, like, so I have nothing,” Brinnehl said.
She is only two months away from graduating from her workforce development program, something to help get a job, so she wouldn’t need SNAP benefits. But, she says, she might have to consider dropping out so she can feed her kids.
“If I got a job, A, I wouldn’t graduate, and B, I would still have to pay out-of-pocket, you know, for a babysitter and their food,” Brinnehl said.
Those complex realities, which many families find themselves in, are why Longoria is not giving up.
“Do what you can in order to survive and have hope that is going to get better,” Longoria said.
The next Warm Heart community meal will be at East Chicago Church on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. All are welcome.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
