SNAP Funding May End Soon: What States Are Doing and How Christians Can Respond
Elizabeth Delaney
Audio By Carbonatix
By Elizabeth Delaney, Crosswalk.com
If ever there were a time to make feeding the hungry and financially struggling a state issue, it would be now. With the Senate voting down the House-passed clean Republican funding bill for the 12th time, most states are getting antsy about how to keep those who are dependent on SNAP from going hungry if funding runs out. If the shutdown goes into November, SNAP may have to be suspended. One state has already declared a state of emergency, while others are saying things are getting serious for them, but they haven't gone quite that far. One state in particular, however, is taking a more proactive and intentional approach.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has decided that the temporary end to SNAP benefits qualifies as a state emergency and declared a state of emergency in Virginia on Thursday.
How Virginia’s State of Emergency Helps its Residents
“The Democrat Shutdown will cause SNAP benefits to run out for over 850,000 Virginians in need starting November 1st, 2025,” Youngkin told Fox News. “I refuse to let hungry Virginians be used as ‘leverage’ by congressional Democrats. I am declaring a State of Emergency due to the Democrat Shutdown to protect hungry Virginians in need.”
He has also contacted Virginia’s Senate representatives, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and insisted that they need to end the shutdown and vote in favor of the resolution the House Republicans have presented.
Declaring a state of emergency will allow Youngkin to use Virginia’s emergency funds for the purpose of providing food to Virginia residents in need, according to the Governor of Virginia's website.
“The Commonwealth will provide food benefits until Congressional Democrats put the interests of Virginians in need ahead of their politics. I thank President Trump and his Administration for their help as they continue to provide support to Virginians in need,” Younkin noted on the website.
Both senators made a point of responding to Youngkin’s insistence on voting for the Republican resolution and ending the shutdown on Thursday.
“Any efforts that can be taken at the state level to help make sure those who are food-insecure don’t suffer, I support,” Kaine said, according to News Nation Now.
“What’s it gonna take? I think it’s not additional pain. Frankly, it’s the state’s responsibility to help fund the SNAP program. I know they’re gonna get stretched. So, I’d urge the Governor to tell the President to stay in town, put America first, and resolve this,” Warner said, according to News Nation Now.
How a Few Other States Are Preparing
There are presently a total of 36 states that have issued a warning about SNAP funds being brought to a temporary end. Each state is dealing with the crisis in its own way. Some are in a better position than others to weather the looming emergency.
Most states have issued a notice announcing that SNAP funds will be drying up on November 1 if the shutdown doesn’t come to an end in October. Those who receive these funds are typically unable to work and consist of minors, the disabled, and the elderly. In a worst-case scenario, it can mean deciding between food on the table and the rent, according to CBS News.
As for other courses of action, the state of Arkansas has told its SNAP recipients that they can hold back some of their October funds for November, visit a local food bank, or do both. Not the best long-term plan given the fact that food banks will likely see a significant increase overall in people who need their assistance, according to Today.com.
Texas is directing SNAP recipients to find a nearby food bank if benefits are “interrupted” in November, and provides a link at EveryTexan.org on which people can click that will assist them with finding the closest one where they live. There is also a phone number provided for obtaining local food bank information.
Pennsylvania posted a notice at the PA.gov website about SNAP coming to a temporary end by November 1 and reminded recipients that, “SNAP recipients with unspent funds on their EBT cards will still be able to use these funds. SNAP benefits do not expire at the end of each month and can be spent for a calendar year.”
In Ohio, Rep. Latyna Humphrey (D-Columbus) announced she’s sponsoring HB 502, which would allow Ohio to pull money from its rainy day fund to allow SNAP recipients to receive funds while the government remains closed. Those borrowed funds would then be repaid by taxpayers once the federal government opens again, according to Statehouse News. The bill is presently still in committee.
The list of all 36 states that have announced that SNAP will become unavailable by November 1st, according to Newswee,k is:
Alaska
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Even as most states are being rather vocal about their struggle with SNAP, the White House has announced it intends to lay off 4000 federal workers. However, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought anticipates that more than 10,000 federal workers will be laid off in the near future, including about 1,200 in the Department of Health and Human Services, and over 400 in the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to Daily Citizen.
“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the Bureaucracy,” said Vought.
Not just the funding, but the bureaucracy, that we now have an opportunity to do that.”
While a federal judge has presently blocked many of the layoffs, the Trump administration anticipates that the block is only a temporary situation.
Food Banks Attempting to Prepare for Increase in Demand, Ways Christians Can Help
The most typical course of action that state leaders seem to be taking regarding the suspension of SNAP is to point those who need its assistance to local food pantries or food banks.
“There’s no way that our charitable food network or the system in this country can provide that much food overnight or quickly. It’s an impossible task,” Catherine D’Amato, CEO of the Greater Boston Food Bank, told NBC News.
D’Amato said people have already contacted her for information about where they can go to get assistance with obtaining food for their families.
One organization that has been especially proactive and intentional about preparing for a significant increase in need is the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank.
The organization claims they’ve learned a few things from the last extended government shutdown that happened back in 2018, and they developed a model for how they would handle it for the next time around.
“All of our Feeding America food bank partners across this country, we all get together and have these conversations,” Trisha Rayner, VP and Chief Development Officer of Freestore Foodbank, told WLWT. “So, we pay attention to the political landscape. We check on what our states are doing, and we collectively talk about what messaging we should have and how we can collaborate to get more resources available in every community across the country.”
“November is always the busiest month in the food bank and food pantry world, and if SNAP benefits do not go out on time, in November, the capacity of food banks and food pantries will be pushed to their very limits,” Kathy Underhill, CEO of the Des Moines Area Religious Council, told Business Record.
“We’re staying in close contact with all of our partners across the metro to ensure that there are no interruptions in daily service, and we have no plans at this time to limit the amount of food we guarantee or alter our services,” she said.
Food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens always need volunteers who can help serve. So Christians who want to get involved can reach out to these local organizations to schedule times to come in and assist with distribution and stocking.
Another way that Christians and Christian businesses (whether large or small businesses) can help is to donate nonperishable goods to their local food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens, or make a cash donation. Both types of donations are tax-deductible if the organization being donated to is a 501(c) (3). Receipts from donations should be kept, and donors will want to check with their account about how to claim donations as a tax deduction.
This is also a time when churches that have food pantries can bulk up their offerings as a way to come alongside their own members who may be in need, as well as others in the community.
A few nationwide options where financial donations can be made include:
Feeding America
The Salvation Army
Hunger Free America
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/K Soma
Elizabeth Delaney has been a freelance content writer for over 20 years and has enjoyed having her prose published in both the non-fiction and fiction markets. She has written various types of content, including Christian articles, healthy lifestyle, blog posts, business topics, news articles, product descriptions, and some fiction. She is also a singer-songwriter-musician. When she is not busy with writing or music, she enjoys spending time with friends or family and doing fun social activities such as hiking, swing dancing, concerts, and other activities.
