‘AN UNIMAGINABLE NEED’

Catholic Charities’ food pantries reeling from disruption in SNAP benefits

People hold up signs protesting against cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington in this file photo. With funding for SNAP scheduled to lapse Nov. 1, 2025, due to the federal government shutdown, Catholic outreach leaders are warning that the increased need could stretch many hunger relief ministries, and those they serve, to the limit. (OSV News photo/Joshua Roberts, Reuters) (Courtesy photo of Joshua Roberts)

In an ongoing battle against food insecurity, Catholic Charities is on the front lines. 

And with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) disrupted and potentially cut in half for the month of November, Catholic Charities’ food pantries that are already stressed, will likely see even more clients.

The challenging times for people dealing with food insecurity in the Diocese of Albany began when the United States Department of Agriculture planned on ceasing funding on Nov. 1 for SNAP, the federal program that provides funds to eligible and in-need families to purchase food, during the federal government shutdown. The program currently funds nearly three million New Yorkers and was estimated that an interruption of benefits would have cut off approximately $650 million in aid, including to 800,000 senior citizens and over 1 million children.

A federal judge in Rhode Island on Oct. 31, however, blocked the Trump administration from stopping SNAP funding during the shutdown and ordered it to use approximately $6 billion in contingency funding that is available. Judge Jack McConnell said the Agriculture Department must distribute the contingency funds "timely, or as soon as possible, for the November 1 payments to be made."

On Nov. 3, the Trump administration confirmed that SNAP would receive partial funding to keep feeding millions of Americans, according to court documents released on Monday. The Trump administration said that it would tap billions of dollars in contingency funds to pay 50 percent of the normal amount of SNAP benefits for the month of November. Details on how long SNAP benefits will be kept afloat after the month are unclear. 

Jenn Hyde, executive director of Catholic Charities Tri-County Services, said that even with a partial funding coming, the uncertainty of when the funds will be received and when the benefits will be fully reinstated has food pantries and their clients wary.

“I will tell you that the need is still pouring in and people are nervous, anxious, scared,” Hyde said. “We’ve had some people today (Nov. 3) and Friday coming to us with absolutely no food, and they needed food right away.”

Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Albany oversees 12 food pantries (see graphic), three soup kitchens, two congregate meal sites for seniors, Meals on Wheels for homebound individuals, and programs like Food Farmacy, WIC, and NOEP that connect families with healthy food and nutrition education.

Together, these programs serve approximately 30,000 individuals each year. The food pantries alone cost more than $316,000 annually to operate. 

Hyde, who oversees six of the Catholic Charities food pantries, said that her pantries are still planning to prepare for more need as she expects the uncertainty and fear that’s been created around the SNAP benefits changes to continue.

“People are going into a protection mode,” she said. Even as SNAP benefits are expected to be distributed, clients still have to get by until the funding is received, which will only be a partial amount of their usual income. 

Hyde said that her pantries are stocked for now but are seeing a rise in “emergent cases” — clients who are new to a pantry or haven’t been allocated for. The more unexpected cases each pantry sees will drive up the need for help.

“When somebody comes to us on an emergent case, that’s someone that we didn’t plan for,” she said. “So, depending on how many of those emergent cases continue to happen, that’s going to determine our food stock.”

The timing is like a “perfect storm,” Hyde added, as food pantries are already strapped from increased attendance as the cost of living continues to climb. 

“I looked at the numbers of how many people we served in September (2024) to this past September, and we increased the number of people served by 25 percent,” Hyde said, “and that’s before people are losing their SNAP benefits.”

In the week leading up to the anticipated cutoff, Hyde spent as much time in her food pantries as she could.

“I’m seeing the guests that come to us and they’re asking, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do,’ ” she said. “I talked to a volunteer who answered the phone for us, and within the first hour of the day she took five phone calls from people who hadn’t needed to turn to a food pantry before.”

“We do this work all year long and the need is rising exponentially every day, adding this component to it is just the unimaginable piece,” Hyde added. “When I lay my head on the pillow at night, and I think of senior citizens and kids and hard-working single moms being hungry, I struggle. It takes a toll.”

On Oct. 30, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued a statewide disaster emergency from the expected loss of the federal SNAP benefits, allocating $106 million in emergency funding to help stock food pantries and distribution centers. 

Still, there is work to be done. The ripple effects from the gap in SNAP benefit distribution will be felt in more places than just the pantries as customers, who relied on that income, will drop from grocery stores, farmers markets and bodegas. 

To combat this, Catholic Charities is calling on those who can help to advocate for food assistance. A list of ways to assist — including how to contact local members of congress, data available on SNAP benefits to share online, and ways to make a monetary donation to food pantries — is available on Catholic Charities’ website: https://bit.ly/CCPantries

“Food drives — in your neighborhood, in your church, in your youth group, or just in your own household — at this point, anything is going to help stock our shelves,” said Hyde. 

To donate to a food pantry, or for more ways to help, visit https://bit.ly/CCPantries.