In wake of the federal government cutting its funding for food assistance benefits, local Spokane-area food banks and community organizations have already begun to report “COVID levels” of stress on their services.
With the government shutdown creeping into November, community members have been bracing for the deficit left by what little remaining funds are to be disbursed under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — if the federal government even disperses it at all. After that money runs out, all funding for SNAP will cease – leaving about 40 million Americans, and nearly 1 million Washingtonians – in food insecurity.
In Spokane alone, one in five residents are at risk of losing SNAP benefits, with Mayor Lisa Brown declaring a state of emergency earlier this week due to the rippling effects the shutdown has had on services for low-income residents.
Brown has called to fund 50 additional shelter beds, expedite eviction prevention contracts and "fund mobile medication-assisted treatment so police, the navigation center, and street outreach teams can connect individuals immediately to services, assessment and treatment."
“As we begin enforcement of the ‘Safe and Accessible Spaces’ ordinance, we need to increase the capacity of places where people can go. The looming threat of SNAP benefits ending also means that many in our community are going to have to choose between food or rent,” she said. “This emergency declaration ensures we have flexibility to respond quickly, keep people safe and sheltered, and maintain our focus on connecting people to services and housing.”
Mayor Brown is also establishing a new community program so members of the public and local businesses can donate directly to housing and other resources for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Similar to the “Give Real Change” program implemented under former Mayor DavidCondon’s administration, donations can be made through utility bills, online payments or by calling 3-1-1.
The Spokane City Council will vote on whether to ratify her emergency declaration — allowing her to spend up to $500,000 in money from the city’s general fund and $1.0 million from the city’s HEART fund, with at least $30,000 committed to food relief — on Monday, November 10.
The emergency dollars, if approved by council, will also be spent on opening 50 additional shelter beds, fasttracking eviction prevention contracts and funding mobile, medication-assisted treatment.
On Monday, November 3, the Spokane City Council unanimously passed a resolution introduced by council members Shelby Lambdin and Paul Dillon which urged the federal government to restore and expand SNAP assistance, asked Brown to explore emergency measures to protect those impacted by the shutdown and thanked Governor Bob Ferguson for pledging $2.2 million weekly to food banks across the state until SNAP is reinstated.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) confirmed that the funds committed by Ferguson will be coming from the Washington State Department of Health and Human Services in an interagency agreement in which DSHS will transfer unused funds from its food assistance program.
According to Katie Rains, WSDA’s Director of Food Systems Initiatives, the allocations are not yet finalized, but the agency will distribute its funds to the 25 lead agencies that administer the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) and 16 lead agencies that administer EFAP-Tribal in accordance with already existing distribution formulas.
The lead agencies provide state-supported meals to 470 distribution sites and pantries, and 38 tribe-supported sites.
Uncharted waters
But the magnitude of impact generated by the loss of SNAP still leaves local groups wading in uncharted waters, such as Second Harvest, a food bank and distributor that essentially serves “as a food bank for food banks” across the eastern portion of the state.
Eric Williams, community partnerships director at Second Harvest, told RANGE the situation feels like “COVID levels of stress and demand without the food.”
Calling in from their mobile market at Fairchild Airforce Base, Williams said that, “during COVID, there was a surge of food available … right now I'm taking a wild guess here at Fairchild, we'll have double [the number of people in need] what we would normally do for mobile markets.”
Williams said the line last Thursday morning started 45 minutes early at Fairchild. And their mobile market in Wenatchee – which they advertised for up to 250 families – instead drew 495 families, leaving workers no choice but to turn away 70 cars.
“In fact, each of those last week, I'm guessing, we're averaging more than 50 cars at each mobile that we have to turn away,” he added.
Sarah Henderson, director of development at Partners Inland Northwest, has also seen a drastic surge in just one week – given that her organization also serves Spokane families in a larger capacity.
On average, Partners INW sees 250 families a day. That number has now jumped to 340. The organization’s prior experiences with COVID allowed them to navigate crisis situations quickly, but Henderson worries that funds and supplies could soon run dry.
“It's a little bit harder than people think it is to just buy food,” she said. “It's a little bit more nuanced than that, but the quickest way for us to do it is use our savings account to buy local food that we can get into the pantry right away.”
Henderson said Partners INW will source assistance from Gov. Ferguson’s emergency fund, but because that government money will be provided in reimbursable dollars, “food pantries have to have $100 grand in reserves in order to spend that $100 grand.”
“So it's harder for pantries to just use that money, because they don't all have that deep of a pocket,” she added.
Partners INW’s current plan is to buy food and ship it out to pantries in rural areas, so they don’t have to come up with the cash required to solicit the state’s services. They’re also looking to rev the engines of their refrigerated trucks in case mobile deliveries become a necessity.
“One of the shocking stats is that a food pantry can replace one meal, but the SNAP benefits can replace 12. So, even with as hard as we're working, these families still need their SNAP benefits,” Henderson said. “It's not enough for them to live off of their local food pantries forever.”
At Meals on Wheels’ Spokane chapter, a nationwide program that delivers meals to the elderly and those who are homebound, development director Gail Golden reports increased need for their emergency food pantry.
While supplies haven’t dropped just yet – “we're seeing that we're getting down to just cans of green beans and corn.” Golden said they’re calling on community members to expand their donations to canned proteins and soups, which can offer more sustenance and provide elderly people the nutrition they need.
Golden has also been in conversation with others in Spokane as to how SNAP losses will impact local grocery stores. She recalled that while speaking to the owners of Grocery Outlet on Third Avenue, they indicated they get quite a bit of their monthly revenue from SNAP benefits.
“So the trickle down effect of this could be widespread, and it's very unnerving,” she said.
Smaller and rural food pantries have been reporting mixed accounts, given the fact that some serve their customers on a monthly basis, meaning they have not yet provided in-person services in the week leading up to SNAP’s cessation.
Springdale Food Pantry opens the third week of November, and while manager Lori Newell told RANGE their operation hasn’t seen any significant uptick in demand just yet – they’ve been garnering extra donations in preparation to serve their clientele of 55 to 60 families. Springdale mainly receives their supply from Second Harvest and Rural Resources, so Newell has been monitoring all distributions and updates from them.
Nearby, Loon Lake Food Pantry operates on a more frequent basis, serving clients twice a week. Operations manager Liz Bauer said she’s seen 30 people sign up this week alone, adding up to a total of 101 new clients for the month.
“A lot of people are panicking, they're really scared and worried about what they're going to do next month,” Bauer said. “They're just worried. We're trying our best to keep them with food, but our resources are going to run low really quickly with the increase in the clients we're getting in so we're just trying to figure out the best way to go about this.”
Their food distributions drew 450 people this month, and Bauer is considering coming twice a week to pick up supplies from Second Harvest and Rural Resources rather than just once.
“We're trying to go on that scale, and hopefully that will relieve some of the pressure a little, and then we have to work on having the extra hours for our volunteers and see how that's going to work out with the extra workload,” she said.
In terms of how community members can help, all groups came to the consensus that both volunteering and providing material and financial support are exceptionally critical right now.
“Folks in the Inland Northwest pull together and we will,” Second Harvest’s Williams said. “Everybody looks out for their neighbors. And that's very much happening. That's how we make it through with it.”
