Food aid groups ready to blunt shutdown impact

By MARTIN WILBUR

Westchester’s food assistance organizations have been mobilizing to help fill the need created by the Nov. 1 discontinuation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits caused by the federal government shutdown.

Feeding Westchester, which in its current July-to-June fiscal year budgeted sending 19 million pounds of food to the 175 pantries it partners with throughout the county, is ready to ramp up the level of distribution, said Brad Kerner, the nonprofit’s vice president, community engagement and impact.

Kerner said he is confident that Feeding Westchester will be able to handle the anticipated larger orders from those pantries — at least at the start of the crisis — due to a surge in donations from individuals and corporations who have recognized the need.

“We’ve got an influx of money where we can now buy more food, put it in our inventory so our partners can order what they need to increase the amount they have at their food pantry,” Kerner said. “Because at the end of the day, the folks who are on SNAP they’re not coming to Feeding Westchester, they’re going to go to their local pantry. The local pantries are worried, they’re really worried. If they order as usual, they’re not going to meet the demand.”

While a federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Oct. 31 to release $5 billion in emergency funds to partially fund November’s SNAP benefits, none of the approximately 42 million recipients across the nation have received them yet, Kerner said. More than 70,000 Westchester residents are currently registered to receive SNAP benefits.

Last week, County Executive Ken Jenkins and Department of Social Services Commissioner Leonard Townes announced that the county was releasing $50,000 in emergency funding so Feeding Westchester can acquire more food in hopes of keeping up with the demand.

“We know that Westchester families are facing an unimaginable hardship,” Jenkins said. “We cannot, we will not allow our neighbors to go hungry. This emergency funding will help Feeding Westchester and our local food pantries to step up in our moment of crisis to make sure no one in our community is left behind.”

As the SNAP benefits were ready to expire, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a food emergency last week, authorizing the release of $65 million in state funds as a stop-gap measure to ease the hardship. Feeding Westchester was one of the organizations that received a small piece of that funding, Kerner said.

Although support from the community has been crucial during the early days of the crisis, local pantries on the front lines are bracing for the impacts. Clare Murray, executive director of the Community Center of Northern Westchester, said there are a number of efforts undertaken to try and blunt the impacts on local families. First, the pantry plans on providing more food to more families as long as it can, possibly increasing the number of visits it allows a week from a household. That could include additional hours and providing people with a designated appointment time so its temporary facility is not overrun.

The community center also plans to do larger and more frequent ordering of food from its sources, Murray said. It is reaching out to the community for support, which helps to maximize the purchase of food at wholesale costs and the amount of food the center can provide. Murray said the public’s response has been overwhelming.

“Without asking, so many more financial donations have been just pouring in, so the community has been responding without needing to be asked,” Murray said.

Donations of supermarket gift cards are being sought from the public along with individual food donations. More volunteers are requested to help with food pickups and deliveries, she said.

In order to handle greater volume, the Community Center of Northern Westchester now has three storage pods behind its Bedford Hills building.

Problems will persist

While the shutdown is contributing to an increasingly acute food insecurity problem, when the federal government reopens, it’s not expected to quickly return to what has become normal. That’s because the more stringent eligibility requirements for SNAP went into effect on Nov. 1, even though no one has currently received this month’s benefits, Murray said.

The new rules require that recipients under 65 and able-bodied who don’t have children under 14 will have to be working at least 20 hours a week, looking for work or in school. Then proof will be required each month of a person’s job search or work history or a letter from a doctor or social worker verifying a condition or disability that would exempt them.

“The barriers to accessing the SNAP benefits that are needed or the people who need them are going to be insurmountable for many, and I believe there will be so many people in need going forward,” Murray said. 

Kerner said it is projected that several thousand Westchester SNAP beneficiaries will likely be ineligible after benefits resume.

Feeding Westchester will likely know by the end of next week how much more food pantries have ordered for the first two weeks of November, Kerner said.

The organization has undertaken two other initiatives to help federal workers and their families. Last week, Feeding Westchester provided meals to 110 federal employees at Westchester County Airport. It also has launched an emergency food support program for all federal workers in the county. Residents who qualify can register on the website for free home deliveries of food at feedingwestchester.org.

Kerner said the need to provide food to Westchester families has never really abated since the pandemic.

“Instead of comparing it to COVID, I find what’s important and happening right now is a reminder to everyone that food insecurity is happening every day since COVID to now, it’s just reports like this that get it back in the news and get it back to people,” Kerner said. “This is something we deal with every single day.”

For anyone in the area that’s in need of help, they can call the Community Center of Northern Westchester at 914-232-6572, ext. 111, and ask for the client services manager. Feeding Westchester has a pantry locator on its website. The United Way 211 hotline can also be contacted to find help.