“Every little thing that I get, I’ve got to make it stretch.” “With the price of food going up, they don’t even give you enough food stamps anyway,” Peoples said. With food prices increasing nationwide, residents say they have no choice but to buy less from grocery stores. SNAP benefit decreases aren’t the only reason low-income Rhode Islanders are relying more on food pantries. They’re not going to give you fresh stuff out of the store.” “Beggars can't be choosers, but a lot of things (in food pantries) are outdated. In soup kitchens, “everything is canned,” she explained. She explained she struggles to get fresh vegetables with her reduced benefits, instead finding expired canned foods at pantries and soup kitchens. Peoples, a South Providence resident, told The Herald that since she stopped receiving around $100 monthly in supplemental SNAP benefits, she has to gather lower-quality food from multiple pantries to get enough to eat. “Those who are looking for additional information and don’t want to wait on the phone should visit” the DHS website.īut for residents like Lydia Peoples, the changes to SNAP mean more than a long phone call. “We are aware of the wait times and overall the average is approximately one hour - longer in some cases, as well as shorter for others,” wrote Jim Beardsworth, chief public affairs officer for DHS, in an email to The Herald. He added that many residents who lost SNAP benefits and turned to DHS for an explanation have been “stuck waiting on the phone for over an hour.” Prior to March 1, Banno said the food bank typically handled five to 10 weekly “emergency cases,” when residents ran out of food. He described the rollback of additional SNAP benefits as “a tragedy.”ĭavid Banno, CEO and president of Community Action Partnership of Providence County, which runs a food pantry for South Providence residents, said that the food bank served 250 people in March, 200 of whom were SNAP recipients. The Project Outreach food pantry currently serves 400 to 500 families in the 0297 zip codes in South Providence twice weekly, according to Arruda. The Project Outreach food pantry at Open Table of Christ United Methodist Church and other local food pantries have been “overrun” with demand recently, according to David Arruda, the pastor at Open Table of Christ UMC in Providence and Faith Fellowship in Mansfield, Massachusetts. “It’s a long time to get used to having the extra money for groceries and it’s at a time when food inflation is so high that everybody’s groceries are costing so much more,” she said.īlackman said the rollback of supplemental SNAP funding is “part of a long list of COVID-era benefits that have slowly been expiring,” including federal waivers for free school meals. Community Food Bank have seen an uptick in clients, according to Lisa Blackman, the chief philanthropy officer at the food bank. Organizations in the 150-member distribution network of the R.I. Michele Matott, director of aging and adult services at Federal Hill House. Upon hearing news about SNAP rollbacks, the organization ramped up staffing in anticipation of increased traffic, according to Rev. The pantry still had hours to go until closing. But on Tuesday of this week, 107 families had crossed the pantry’s doors by noon. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities predicted that the rollback would reduce average monthly SNAP benefits in Rhode Island by $101 per person.įor some food pantries in Providence, the post-reduction surge in demand has been more than they can keep up with.Īccording to Federal Hill House supervisor and Swiss Street pantry coordinator Jennifer Hill, the pantry usually welcomes up to 75 families each day it operates. 9, DHS announced an end to the extra SNAP funding beginning March 1. Since federal COVID-19 response legislation was passed in March 2020, households have received supplemental monthly SNAP funding: either an additional $95 or enough to reach their maximum baseline benefits by household size - whichever is greater. The program offers qualifying one-person households up to $281 per month in baseline benefits, according to the R.I. Rhode Island residents benefitting from SNAP receive monthly electronic benefit transfers to pay for food. Since temporary increases to benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were rolled back March 1, Providence soup kitchens and food pantries have faced a surge in demand. But last month, they received 157 applications. Most months, the Federal Hill House in Providence receives 50 to 75 new applicants to their food pantry.
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