Philadelphia food banks rush to meet increased demand amid SNAP freeze

As the rain crashed down in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood Thursday morning, dozens of residents lined up outside the Lutheran Settlement House.

The food bank is now serving double the number of clients, leading the nonprofit to source food from other donor organizations to meet the increased demand. On Thursday, Lutheran Settlement House served 115 visitors, compared with a typical day of 30 clients.

Food banks nationwide are bracing for a surging need for groceries as benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, freeze amid a government shutdown that has lasted for more than four weeks.

“Everyone who comes to us for assistance is leaving with something, but I don’t think they’re leaving with enough,” said David Chiles, executive director of Lutheran Settlement House. “If SNAP benefits are frozen, there’s no way for social service organizations and the hunger relief network to manage that loss of funds, and that’s going to be devastating for us.”

Lutheran Settlement House is just one Philadelphia food bank that is reporting an increased volume of applications for free meals. The organization is purchasing more food than ever before.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a disaster declaration Friday to direct $5 million in state funding to the nonprofit organization Feeding Pennsylvania to help food banks purchase more healthy food, including from local farmers.

Food banks are hopeful the funding will help them meet the demand. However, the funding doesn’t match the $366 million in monthly SNAP benefits Pennsylvanians receive, and food banks continue to urge the federal government to keep SNAP benefits afloat.

“I’m incredibly grateful for our state and county governments stepping up to help fill the gaps left by the failures of our federal leadership,” said George Matysik, executive director of ShareFood program. The organization distributes food assistance to food pantries across the Philadelphia area, which collectively serve more than 500,000 people a month, according to Matysik.

“Hunger doesn’t take a break, and neither can we. A freeze of SNAP benefits is unacceptable and while this $5 million infusion is much needed, it won’t take the place of missing federal investment,” he added.

SNAP provides food assistance for 42 million people in the U.S. — about 70% of whom are children, people living with disabilities or older adults.

Philadelphia nonprofits say the city, which already has higher rates of food insecurity, will be hit hard by the freeze. More than 470,000 residents in the city rely on SNAP to put food on their tables, according to Pennsylvania Department of Human Services data.

“People are going to go hungry,” Chiles said, holding back tears. “I get emotional thinking about it, because the impact is that someone’s going to get hungry, that a child is going to be hungry, and there is not going to be food, and that one of our elders is going to be hungry.”

The freeze will impact people like Starlene Martin, who has used SNAP for more than two years. The Philadelphia resident relies on Social Security, which doesn’t provide enough income to pay for all of her bills and necessities. SNAP helped Martin free up her wallet to prevent getting behind on rent and utilities.

“I didn’t have to juggle and say, ‘I gotta get food, so I’m not gonna pay my electric bill.’ When I had SNAP, I could do all my bills and then use my SNAP to go to the market,” she said. “I really relied on that to get my food and stuff. So now I’m no longer gonna get it.”

But Martin, who also volunteers at Lutheran Settlement House, said she worries most about the families who will be impacted.

“These kids are the ones that’re gonna suffer through all this,” she said. “A lot of them don’t get a good meal until they go to school, and imagine coming home in the evenings, opening up the refrigerator and there’s nothing in it. It’s gotta be heartbreaking.”