Meals banks and pantries have been experiencing historic demand since SNAP advantages halted on Nov. 1 for a lot of Individuals as a result of federal authorities shutdown.
That halt affected practically 42 million Individuals, lots of whom are older or low-income, and use advantages to assist pay for groceries and different necessities.
President Donald Trump late Wednesday evening signed a funding invoice to finish the longest authorities shutdown in U.S. historical past, after White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier mentioned that full SNAP advantages will likely be paid out as soon as the shutdown was resolved.
Nonetheless, meals help employees mentioned the restoration of meals help cannot come quickly sufficient as they battle to fill within the hole left behind by SNAP.
Cyndi Kirkhart, government director at Going through Starvation Meals Financial institution, mentioned she’s been working on the meals financial institution for 11 years and has by no means seen the surge in folks she is seeing now, and that it’s larger than what she noticed in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Going through Starvation Meals Financial institution — which serves 17 counties in West Virginia, Ohio and jap Kentucky — mentioned some areas within the southern a part of West Virginia have seen a 1,800% improve within the variety of households visiting.
Carrie Scarf, middle, and Natalie Cooper, left, present their SNAP paperwork at a meals distribution web site in Frazer, Mont., on Nov. 10, 2025.
Mike Clark/AP
“Usually, we do cellular pantry distribution, that are automobiles [lining] up [and] we load their automobile up with meals,” she informed ABC Information. “On the most, we’ll see 250 households. The previous week, solidly, we’ve seen 900 households at every distribution, at every web site.”
Kirkhart mentioned their cellular pantries have seen such demand that as an alternative of sending massive field vans to load up provides on the meals financial institution, she has needed to ship tractor-trailers. She added that she solely has two tractor-trailers, which places a whole lot of strain on drivers to load up and go to a number of distribution websites.
Kirkhart mentioned her group encourages people to go to the meals pantries for meals relatively than the financial institution, however they may nonetheless serve individuals who go to the financial institution.
“We’ll nonetheless have perhaps, over the course of a month, 50 folks that may present up immediately on the meals financial institution for an emergency meals field,” she mentioned. “And these previous two weeks not less than, we’ve had 60 a day. … It is continuous.”
In Washington state, meals banks are additionally seeing an exponential improve in guests. Jordan Beaudry, growth and communications supervisor at North Assist Line — which supplies emergency providers together with meals assist — mentioned there was a surge on the two meals banks the group serves that has been years within the making.
Beginning in 2022, “we noticed our numbers virtually double in a single day, and it is simply been a gentle improve since then,” he informed ABC Information. “We’re serving twice as many of us as we did three years in the past, and that’s form of setting the stage going into this newest spherical of SNAP cuts and the federal government shutdown. … We have seen only a large improve within the quantity of parents accessing providers, notably for the reason that pause on SNAP advantages.”
The latest demand started in October, when it was first introduced that SNAP advantages could also be halted in November, Beaudry mentioned.
From July via September, the banks noticed a mean of 1,086 guests per week for the primary two weeks of the month, in accordance with information offered by Beaudry. In October, the typical for the primary two weeks was 1,136 per week. Final week, the banks noticed 1,329 visits.
At one of many meals banks, Beaudry mentioned the final Thursday in October was the best variety of folks the group has ever seen on a Thursday, with a few 14% improve in households visiting to obtain meals.
Equally, Kristen Wild, president and CEO of starvation reduction group Operation Meals Search, which serves 25 counties in Missouri and Illinois, mentioned the pantries, shelters and group websites the place the group’s provides are distributed are seeing will increase in folks visiting between 30% and 50%.
She described a distribution occasion final week throughout which Operation Meals Search had ready 700 meals to concern beginning at 10 a.m. CT. An hour earlier than the occasion, the road of automobiles was 500 lengthy and greater than 200 households needed to be turned away.
Individuals wait in line at a Central Texas Meals Financial institution distribution at Nelson Subject on Nov. 4, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman through Getty Photographs
“We have had businesses report back to us that they’ve needed to shut down sooner than their typical working hours as a result of they’ve run out of meals,” she informed ABC Information. “We’re seeing businesses are being approached by folks searching for meals who’ve by no means wanted to make use of a pantry up to now as a result of the SNAP advantages had been adequate sufficient for them to get the meals assets that they wanted.”
The group additionally runs a metro market program, which is sort of a cellular grocery retailer, that has seen a surge in clients.
This system prices for meals at or beneath value however has not too long ago began issuing $15 vouchers to clients as a result of improve in demand, Wild mentioned. Staff have additionally needed to replenish cabinets a number of occasions all through a two-hour metro market cease as a result of improve in visitors.
Wild added that 90% of meals help comes from federal packages like SNAP and about 10% comes from meals banks and meals pantries. The halt in SNAP advantages has pressured meals banks to enter “overdrive” to make up as a lot of the hole as attainable.
“We have had terrific group help, each by way of extra meals donations, extra monetary donations, so we are able to buy extra meals, however we will not make up for the total SNAP hole,” she mentioned.
