Food pantries brace for Nov. 1 SNAP freeze
Food pantries in Rogers County and northeast Oklahoma are expecting a massive spike in demand if federal food stamps lapse Nov. 1.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program helped to feed about 686,800 Oklahomans, or about 17% of the state's population, in Fiscal Year 2024. These Oklahomans — and the 41 million other low-income Americans who relied on the program for food last year — will lose benefits Nov. 1 if Congress cannot reopen the government or approve stopgap appropriations for SNAP.
It would mark the first time in the program's 86-year history that food assistance for the nation's poorest dried up completely. In 2022, 86% of Oklahoma SNAP households fell below the poverty line, not counting the roughly $6 per person per day they received in food stamps.
Chris Bernard, president and chief executive officer of nonprofit Hunger Free Oklahoma, said a total Nov. 1 SNAP freeze could put recipient households in financial jeopardy within two weeks.
"If you're only earning $30,000 a year in the family, that $400 a month is a massive portion of your household budget each month," Bernard said. "Trying to make that up and figure out how to do that is impossible, so you are sacrificing somewhere. ... It may be you choose to feed yourself instead of paying rent. These are terrible and impossible decisions, and that will be the real world very quickly for people."
Bernard's agency runs a hotline to help people enroll in SNAP and offers SNAP matching funds at farmers markets and some stores. He said in Rogers County, 9,366 people (9.2%) benefit from food stamps.
He said SNAP is a necessary supplement to community food pantries operated by nonprofits and churches — according to the Food Research & Action Center, food stamps offer nine meals for every one meal provided by pantries.
About 200,000 people in Rogers and 23 other northeast Oklahoma counties sought assistance last year from the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, said Matt Jostes, executive vice president.
"Over the past year, the Food Bank and our network of partners experienced nearly a 20% increase in neighbors needing assistance," Jostes said. "With more than 680,000 Oklahomans relying on SNAP, we expect to see that need increase substantially."
Most food pantries in Rogers County get the bulk of their goods from the Food Bank. Jostens said the nonprofit partners with Catholic Charities, Claremore First Methodist Church, Blue Starr Church of Christ, Claremore Seventh Day Adventist Church, Good Samaritan Ministry, Grace United Methodist Church, Oologah United Methodist Church and Claremore Meals on Wheels.
Tim McHugh, head pastor at Grace UMC, said his church also buys some of its food from Sysco, but it's more expensive than the food bank's. Grace United Methodist Church has a pantry at its campus on Old Highway 20 and a mobile pantry it brings to other churches called "Givin' with Grace."
McHugh said 99 families visited the pantry trailer Oct. 22 when it parked at Claremore Public Works. He said he didn't recognize most of them and is expecting to see more newcomers needing food assistance.
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"It's going to affect the resources we use," McHugh said. "It's going to affect the people who generally give. It's going to affect everybody. We're a small church, but we're going to help as many people as we can for as long as we can."
He said Grace UMC is extending its pantry hours to coincide with its regular hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Bernard said the 9:1 ratio of SNAP to pantry meals illustrates that charities and food banks alone cannot sustain the poorest Oklahomans' nutrition needs. He said losing SNAP would also erase billions in economic impact generated by the program each year in Oklahoma.
Jostes said SNAP dollars make up between 11 to 30% of rural grocery stores' incomes.
"It's going to hit harder locally-owned, smaller stores, just because they're not built to weather a storm like that as much," Bernard said. "That is also going to impact the workers, right? If you're getting less revenue, you've got to cut hours."
Bernard said without SNAP, many low-income Oklahomans would find it more difficult to afford healthy but expensive foods like fresh produce. Though unspent SNAP benefits vanish Nov. 1, Bernard said Hunger Free Oklahoma's own Double Up Oklahoma SNAP matching benefits will stay valid up to 60 days after receipt.
Claremore has only one DUO market, the Rogers County Farmers Market, but its season ended Saturday. Many farmers markets and grocery stores in and around Tulsa accept DUO benefits.
Bernard said people should call their representatives in Congress to ask for a solution to fund SNAP through November. He said in the meantime, families should budget carefully and make sure their kids eat school meals.
He said people who'd like to help out should donate money to local food banks instead of food items, as nonprofits buy their stock at lower bulk prices.
"There's no way to fill the gaps SNAP leaves," Bernard said. "Certainly, it's going to take the community rallying around this issue to at least alleviate the pain."