Staying fed during SNAP lapse

On the first of every month, approximately 260,000 Iowans receive a payment from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

But with the government still shut down, there will be no payment tomorrow, leaving many Iowans scrambling to put food on the table.

“One of the most common misconceptions about food insecurity is that it’s only a certain cross section of our population that are impacted,” Michelle Wilson with the Union County Food Coalition said. “The reality is that many folks who are food insecure are working at jobs but still struggling and need food assistance to get by.”

Outside of just Iowa, this lapse of funding will impact 40 million Americans, including 16 million children and 8 million seniors.

“The federal shutdown and freeze on SNAP benefits makes this already precarious situation even more tenuous,” Wilson said. “We know that it’s always the most vulnerable populations that are impacted the greatest: children and seniors.”

While there’s nothing that can replace the benefits SNAP provides, there are several ways locally to stay fed during the funding lapse.

Food Pantry

The Creston Area Food Pantry serves as the first line of defense against hunger in the community.

“We’re trying to figure things out,” Kathy Goodrich said. “I got my first call today about someone struggling. They are worried because they aren’t going to get their food stamps next week. I imagine our numbers will increase.”

The need comes at a tough time as the food pantry had previously decided to cut their open hours to the first and third weekends of the month beginning in November.

“We see over 200 clients every week, but we get two deliveries a month from the food bank,” Goodrich explained. “Meat is mostly our issue; we don’t get a whole lot of meat. In order to make sure everyone gets meat, we’ve had to cut back on the times that we are open.”

The food pantry is open Fridays from 12-2 p.m. and Sundays from 1-3 p.m.

“But we are giving them double canned goods and everything to keep them through that odd week that we are not open,” Goodrich explained. “We had to figure out something to be able to continue to give people food. Maybe things will change and we can go back to every week.”

In addition to food, on the first weekend of the month, the food pantry provides personal care items like toothpaste, body wash, deodorant, diapers and such.

Smaller area food pantries include the Creston Food Shelf, MATURA Food Pantry, Orient Mobile Food Pantry, MATURA WIC Program and The Long Table at the Salem Lutheran Church.

Children at the Creston Middle School are able to take home food from their student pantry.

“We have sent a lot of food bags home lately from the food bank in the Creston Middle School,” Principal Lesa Downing said at a school board meeting. “We sent out 295 bags of food last week.”

The student food pantry includes a variety of options to take home, including meat and other ingredients. There is no income-based limit on who can take food from the pantry.

Food for the program is provided by the Food Bank of Iowa.

Open Table

On the second and fourth weeks, the United Methodist Church in Creston hosts Open Table, a free meal available to anyone. Different organizations, churches and groups take turns volunteering for the meal.

Tuesday, a group of volunteers from the United Methodist Church fed 63 families spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and fruit crisp. The meal is from 5-6 p.m.

“We found out that a lot of people don’t even know that that’s available,” Goodrich said.

Double up

Double Up Food Bucks remains available to SNAP users in Iowa.

SNAP participants can continue to earn and spend Double Up Food Bucks on purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables with any existing SNAP/EBT balance at participating locations. Up to $15 of Double Up Food Bucks can be earned per day. At this time, no changes are planned to the earning process.

When customers spend $15 on fresh fruits and vegetables using SNAP benefits at a participating location, they can earn $15 in Double Up Food Bucks. These bucks can be used to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables. The program matches what you spend—$1 for $1—up to $15 each day. To earn and use Double Up Food Bucks: SNAP/EBT customers must sign up for the Double Up Food Bucks Iowa program. To learn more about Double Up Food Bucks, including participating sites, visit www.DoubleUpIowa.org.

Helping

People wanting to help are asked to donate money if possible as the food pantry is able to make funds go farther with wholesale prices. For food donations, canned meats like tuna, salmon and chicken, are preferred.

“While shopping for their personal groceries, buying an extra meal or two’s worth of nonperishable foods and donating them to any of the free little pantries around can be another simple way that people can help,” Wilson said.

Another item flying off the shelves are diapers. If unused diapers are left after a baby grows out of them, parents are encouraged to donate them to the food pantry, even if it’s just a few.

“We go through a lot of diapers and baby wipes,” Goodrich said. “We kind of break down the packages so we can make it go a little further.”

While the food pantry doesn’t need additional volunteers on Fridays and Sundays, they may have need for drivers to travel to the Food Bank of Iowa.

For Open Table, volunteers are always necessary to make and serve the meal. “Whatever organization is interested [in volunteering], they can contact us,” Goodrich said. “If we get a bunch of volunteers, we could maybe have it every week.”

Donations can be brought to the food pantry on Mondays and Fridays or by calling 515-525-4428 to set up a drop-off time.

“Having enough food to eat is a basic human right,” Wilson said. “And without the federal SNAP support, it’s up to us to help our neighbors until this critical safety net is back in place.”