States are sounding the alarm that unless the government shutdown ends soon, millions of people could see their next food assistance benefits delayed or disappear.
The federal anti-hunger program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is at risk of running out of funding in many states as soon as next month, leaving more than 40 million people uncertain about how they'll put food on the table.
"I will suffer and many like me will suffer," said Anita Vasquez, 71, a homebound senior citizen in Manhattan, New York, told Scripps News. "I'm not going to say that I'm gonna die, but I would have to be so tight with my money."
"I don't know how I'm going to survive for right now," Leslie Lugo, 37, a disabled job-seeker in Long Island, said. "Everything's getting so expensive and you know and then jobs are lowering and that's also going to affect me because I'm not working at the moment and this is really what's helping me to feed myself."
"It's definitely a scary reality to face. I don't have a meal plan anymore. I live on campus and I have a kitchen in my apartment. So I cook all my meals and my SNAP benefits, they make all the difference in my daily nutrition. I'm not sure what my food situation would look like without it," said Alana Jacowitz, 22-year-old college senior who relies on SNAP benefits to feed herself and helps other students in need to sign up for benefits.
According to the USDA, most SNAP households live in poverty. A third of those include children, and half include someone who is elderly or has a disability.
The USDA says it needs roughly $8 billion to cover November SNAP benefits but only has about $6 billion in contingency funds — meaning either smaller payments or significant delays. Earlier this month, the agency warned states that if the government shutdown stretches into November, the entire SNAP program would face "insufficient funds."
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A number of states have already issued warnings to expect no new applications, a delay in benefits or no benefits at all in November.
For many SNAP recipients, options for feeding their families and themselves are limited.
Food pantries and nonprofit groups are under increasing pressure to fill the gap.
"We're already getting calls from our partners to load them up with what we consider emergency meals. And it is not possible for philanthropy to fill such a huge gap in government systems. It's just not possible," said Beth Shapiro, CEO of CityMeals on Wheels, which helps to feed thousands of older homebound New Yorkers.
Nonetheless, Shapiro told Scripps News her organization is ready to meet the demand.
"We're being asked to do so, and we will for as much as we can for as long as it's needed. But there are a lot of people outside of our conversation who need to be taken care of in a broad scale," she said.
