Uncertainty surrounding supplemental food assistance has translated to added pressure on West Hills area food pantries and the organization that provides food for those pantries.
The federal government shutdown, which has entered its second month, has resulted in the halting of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding, designed to help low-income residents fill in some of the gaps when it comes to their regular meal offerings.
SNAP benefits, which recipients receive via a card similar to a debit card, were scheduled to run out Nov. 1, which means those who normally would receive those benefits Monday won’t see them.
A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to keep the SNAP benefits flowing, but no one is sure if the administration will comply or, if it does, when that funding will reach the 42 million or so Americans who normally receive them.
Efforts are underway at the state and local levels to help support those individuals and families who rely on SNAP benefits. Gov. Josh Shapiro, in an effort to soften the blow for the nearly 2 million regular SNAP recipients in Pennsylvania, said Friday he would make $5 million in state funding available immediately to Pennsylvania food banks.
An estimated 160,000 individuals in Allegheny County receive SNAP benefits, according to Ann Sanders, director of public benefits, policy and programs for Just Harvest, a local organization that works at hunger by improving public policy and helping those in need connect to benefits.
Monthly benefits vary depending on income, household size and household expenses. Sanders said the minimum benefit for a single person is $23 per month and the maximum benefit for a family of four is $994 a month. Sanders said the average benefit in Pennsylvania amounts to $5.50 per person per day.
According to the state Department of Health Services, approximately 14,500 people living in the West Hills – an area that includes the 15106, 15108, 15136, 15205 and 15225 ZIP codes – received SNAP benefits in September of this year.
In addition to making funding available to the state’s food banks, Shapiro said he’s leading a private sector donation campaign to secure more than $1 million in private donations for those banks.
Locally, state Sen. Wayne Fontana, whose 42nd District includes Kennedy Township and Carnegie, Crafton and McKees Rocks boroughs, said his office would organize a food and donation drive on behalf of the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank starting this week to benefit those who would lose their SNAP assistance funds.
Fontana said approximately 300,000 people in Western Pennsylvania would be affected by the loss of funds, and that many of them would turn to local food pantries for help. Those pantries receive food at steeply discounted prices from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank.
Fontana said people can help in two ways. First, individuals can make an online donation that will directly go to the Food Bank. For every $1 donated, Fontana said, the Food Bank can provide up to three meals for the children, families, individuals and seniors whom they serve.
In addition, items can also be donated in person at Fontana’s district office in Kennedy, located in Kenmawr Plaza at 500 Pine Hollow Road.
Donated items will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday through Thursday, Nov. 20, except for Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 4, and Veterans Day on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
The most needed food items are:
- Canned fruits packed in 100% juice
- Low sodium/no salt added canned vegetables
- Low sodium/no salt added canned beans and soup
- Canned tuna or chicken packed in water
- Whole-grain cereal, oats and pasta
- Peanut butter
Area food pantries said that they began seeing an uptick in the number of people turning out for food distribution in advance of the SNAP benefits disappearing.
Karen McNees, a volunteer and board member for the West Hills Food Pantry in Moon Township, said that for the past six weeks, the turnout for each biweekly food distribution session has been higher than the previous one. She said at the most recent distribution date, 270 families came seeking food – the highest number she’s seen in her nine years with the organization.
“It was a lot more than we were prepared for,” McNees said. “We didn’t realize how high (the demand) would get.”
McNees said she personally heard people say they were coming to obtain food because they feared their SNAP benefits would run out at the end of October.
The Moon Township location, which serves Moon as well as Coraopolis, Crescent and Neville Island, is anticipating an even larger turnout on Nov. 11.
“We’re all a little concerned,” she said. “We don’t know how many to expect. A slight or large increase could be hard to plan for.”
McNees said the West Hills obtains most of its food from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. Until now, the pantry has chosen not to solicit donations from local businesses, but that’s changed in light of the current situation.
“This is the first time we’ve had a volunteer reach out for help because the need is so great,” she said. “We’re not used to doing that.”
The Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank serves 11 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania and partners with more than 1,000 agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens and school districts.
Brian Gulish, the food bank’s vice president of marketing and communication, said that in 2024, the organization distributed enough food for 53 million meals.
But Gulish said it’s unreasonable to believe that the GPFB will be able to make up for the meals that will go unserved due to the loss of SNAP benefits.
Gulish said that for every meal a food pantry serves, SNAP provides the equivalent of nine meals.
“SNAP is the front line for hunger relief in our country,” he said. “If people think the Food Bank can fill that gap, it’s not possible.
“We’re doing everything we can to increase the amount of food we have in our inventory. But the volume of food that goes out through SNAP each month, we can’t duplicate.”
In addition to distributing food to its partner organizations, the GPFB operates a pantry/market in Duquesne, which has seen the demand for food increase from 120 families a day to as many as 200 families a day.
The freeze in SNAP benefits is partly to blame for the increased demand for food at area food pantries, but the government shutdown, which affects some 25,000 people in the food bank’s service area, is another factor.
Kevin Platz, executive director of Focus on Renewal – a McKees Rocks-based nonprofit that provides myriad community programs and operates a food pantry – said the federal government shutdown not only has turned off the spigot to SNAP benefits, but it’s also left an information vacuum.
“With the federal government shutdown, they’ve taken away a lot of answers that people are seeking in this situation,” he said. “When you cut off funding and cut off answers, people have no idea where to go. We’re trying to get as many answers as we can.”
Platz said FOR also is trying to stock up on as much food as possible for its pantry, which is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each Thursday at 11 Robb St. in McKees Rocks.
Platz said the food pantry serves about 182 individuals on a regular basis, and they receive approximately a week’s worth of food. He said he’s seen about a 33% increase in the turnout for food distribution – and that was before SNAP benefits ran out. Now, he said, he expects to see double the number of people at the next food distribution session.
“We started buying ahead for the pantry in anticipation of the government shutdown happening,” he said. “We never anticipated SNAP going away. But here we are.”
Platz said while many areas are impacted by what’s happening with the SNAP benefits disappearing and the government shutting down, his community is particularly hard hit.
“McKees Rocks is one of the poorest communities in all of Pennsylvania,” he said. “When something like this happens, it really affects the most vulnerable populations the hardest. That’s who we serve and try to help.”
Platz said he and his staff are hearing from many senior citizens concerned about losing their SNAP benefits because they’ve come to rely on them.
“(The government) basically said, ‘This is how you’ve been fed for a long time, but you’re no longer going to be fed that way,’” he said.
Platz said he’s not concerned about running out food for those who need it, but he has other concerns.
“We’re expecting such an influx of individuals trying to get food, we’re going to have to increase our hours or increase our days (for distribution),” he said. “Our space just isn’t big enough to accommodate everyone who needs help.”
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