In Lolita Arnold’s pantry, the main contents are a can of beef, one package of stew, a box of Corn Flakes cereal, a bag of dried lentils and some grapes. That was the result of an hourslong food pantry line at a church in Huntington, West Virginia, earlier this week.
Breakfast on Thursday for Arnold, 60, was a cup of coffee and a banana, dinner was mashed potatoes with canned gravy.
“That’s going to have to hold me until the next day, then I’ll go from there,” she said.
Arnold is expecting $145 in monthly food stamp benefits to become available on her electronic benefits card Nov. 6. If that doesn’t happen, she doesn’t have an easy way to return to the food bank: Arnold’s car has broken down. She’s been looking for work, possibly in housekeeping, but hasn’t had any luck.
Even if she could get to one, many food banks are reporting overwhelming demand.
“We were already seeing the highest need that we’ve ever seen in our 42-year history,” said Claire Neal, CEO of MANNA FoodBank, which serves residents of western North Carolina. “There is really staggering need in our area, and then you layer on top of it the crisis of the shutdown and what it will mean to not have SNAP benefits.”
This week, the Salvation Army in Jackson, Mississippi, served nearly twice as many households as it did during the entire month of September, according to Ashley Cowards, a social service worker there.
Sulton, 32, showed up at that Salvation Army location for the first time Thursday.
“Got to keep fighting,” she said, after placing the donations in her car. “Looks like I’m going to fight even harder.”
Children to feed
Other parents on SNAP have been bracing for the possibility of skipping their own meals in order to feed their children.
Corbett, a 41-year-old father in Austin, Indiana, said his family’s $618 in monthly SNAP benefits are due to renew Nov. 7. If the payment is even a day late, he said, hunger is a possibility.
The court ruling on Friday was “a little bit of stress off the plate,” Corbett said — it brought his stress level from an 11 to a 6 or 7.
Corbett was driven out of the workforce by debilitating back and joint pain, likely exacerbated by his job as a forklift driver. His 5-year-old son has nonverbal autism and requires constant care. His wife, Emily, recently lost her part-time job at a gas station, he said, leaving the family without their only source of income.
If their SNAP benefits don’t arrive on time, he and Emily plan to survive off a 24-pack of ramen noodles to make sure their son gets enough food.
“No matter what, he will get fed,” Corbett said.