- Food pantries are seeing increased demand as a potential government shutdown threatens SNAP benefits.
- The loss of SNAP benefits could impact an estimated 70,000 people in Winnebago County.
- Area food pantries report their resources are already strained and shelves are emptying quickly.
ROCKFORD, IL — Area food bank leaders laid it out for Rockford residents at the Mayor’s Hunger Luncheon — they’re already seeing double the usual amount of families seeking food assistance, and SNAP benefits haven’t even been stopped yet.
“I had a donor that gave us $5,000 and I spent it in one day because that’s how desperate we are right now to stock our pantry,” said Shan Johnson, director of social services for the Salvation Army of Rockford & Winnebago County. “Our shelves were virtually empty. They were bare. This is what we had to do to restock.”
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits are expected to be suspended starting Nov. 1 as a government shutdown drags on.
Loss of SNAP benefits will impact 1.9 million people in Illinois. Of those, an estimated 70,000 live in Winnebago County.
The Salvation Army expects about 700 families, or about 1,500 people including children, to seek assistance at the Salvation Army in November as SNAP benefits disappear
Many more will visit other area food pantries, pantry leaders said, and without SNAP, their needs will be greater.
Suddenly, pantries, which were never designed to be the sole provider of food for low-income families, likely will be the main source and perhaps the only source of food for some residents.
It will be an enormous shift, said Kevin Goodrich who operates the God’s Glory Food Pantry and serves as chairman of the Greater Rockford Pantry Coalition. Pantries are used to filling gaps.
“Changing that to a whole month’s worth of food is a much bigger thing,” Goodrich said. “I am not saying we are not up to it. A lot of the pantries are associated with churches, and we believe God can provide the resources we need. … How that happens, this is one way. There are lots of other ways it can happen. A lot of it has to do with people knowing there is a need and being willing to step up.”
The Mayor’s Hunger Luncheon held Oct. 29 raised tens of thousands of dollars for area food pantries as they braced for an onslaught of need.
The Mayor’s Hunger Luncheon set a goal of raising $60,000 to benefit the nine food pantries that are part of the Greater Rockford Pantry Coalition. That’s enough for a month’s worth of operations during normal times.
With a $10,000 donation announced at the luncheon from the OSF Healthcare Foundation, the campaign is expected to reach its goal.
“This luncheon could not have happened at a better time, or some would say a worse time,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said. “With the impending end of SNAP benefits on Saturday, Nov. 1, our help as a community is needed now more than ever. There will literally be countless families across our city, across Winnebago County, the state of Illinois and across our country who will not be able to put food on the table for their families.”
Aea food pantries already are stretched too thin, McNamara said.
“With this impending end of SNAP benefits, they are going to need all of us, not just today, but in coming days and weeks ahead,” he said.
Those seeking help are not the needy people you might imagine, Johnson said, nor are they people who game the system. They are mostly working people who have fallen on hard times, she said.
“What we are seeing are people who are like you and me that suddenly find themselves being downsized, laid off, let out of a job,” Johnson said. “These are not people who play the system at all. These are people who really have a need. It could be you and me tomorrow.”
Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached via email at [email protected] and on X @jeffkolkey.
