JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
In less than three days, SNAP, previously known as food stamps, will run out of money. That is how nearly 42 million people get food assistance. State governments are working on short-term solutions to bridge the gap, and food banks are preparing to help meet increasing demand. NPR's Barbara Sprunt brings us this report.
CHRIS JONES: This is the door we come through as volunteers.
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Volunteer Chris Jones leads me out of the hot Texas sun into the Llano Food Pantry, a small warehouse and distribution site packed with food.
JONES: We bring out the frozen meat, the frozen breads. Right now, we have some crescent rolls that are for breakfast.
SPRUNT: Mary Ann Edwards says volunteers like her and clients are a tight-knit community.
MARY ANN EDWARDS: The ladies all come in and they'll go, guess what I did with those plums I got last time? We share recipes, we talk, and it's like a big family.
SPRUNT: Four years ago, 20 people came each week to pick up food. Now the pantry is getting about a hundred clients every week. Here's Edwards.
EDWARDS: Every time we're open, we are getting new clients. They come in. They're embarrassed - I never thought I would be in this position. You know, hey, a lot of people are in the same position you're in, and that's why we're here. Don't worry about it 'cause we're not going to judge you.
SPRUNT: Because of rising costs over the last year, they sometimes have to limit canned goods, and there's not always enough protein available to purchase. Their clientele is young families, people with disabilities and the elderly. Here's Jones.
JONES: I don't know if I've had but one or two ever tell me that they receive SNAP.
SPRUNT: SNAP - the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The federal program provides about 1 in 8 U.S. residents with food aid. And unless Congress funds the government, the shutdown continues, and that means no SNAP money to send to the states come November 1. If SNAP goes away, Jones and Edwards could get even more new people coming in, and they're wondering what that might mean.
EDWARDS: Do you think it might get to the point, though, that we are going to have to let them take less and less so we can have everybody get something?
JONES: You have to take it one week at a time.
SPRUNT: Their pantry is part of the Central Texas Food Bank, which serves over 600,000 people. CEO Sari Vatske says their average household receives $350 a month, which equates to $44 million of SNAP benefits.
SARI VATSKE: There is no way that we alone can make up for a $44 million food budget shortfall. We need the government to reopen, and we also need the community's support.
SPRUNT: She said shutdowns aren't like other food crises.
VATSKE: In a situation during a natural disaster where we could rely on our sister food banks for support, with this government shutdown, we are all experiencing the same need.
SPRUNT: Jason Riggs is the director of advocacy and public policy at Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico.
JASON RIGGS: The absolute worst part of working at a food bank is when you got to tell people, that's all we got today. We're out. And you know you can't send them anywhere because they're going to be out, too.
SPRUNT: He said if SNAP goes away in November, it would be like the recession 17 years ago and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic because need would be that high.
RIGGS: But that's where comparisons end. The difference with what's happening right now is there will not be SNAP. There will just be the same kind of catastrophic need for food.
SPRUNT: New Mexico has about 21% of its population participate in SNAP, the highest rate in the country.
RIGGS: It's very daunting. SNAP can provide nine times the amount of meals as the entire nationwide food bank network. There's no business in the country that could grow nine times its size or capacity in one year, let alone by November 1.
SPRUNT: And while food pantries are working overtime to prepare, there's not much movement on Capitol Hill to avoid falling off the SNAP cliff.
RICH THAU: Stop doing this. Reopen the government.
SPRUNT: Meet Rich Thau, a public opinion expert. That's the message he heard from a recent focus group of Pennsylvania voters who supported former President Biden and then President Trump. He said, overwhelmingly, people blamed both parties.
THAU: It was a pox on both of your houses.
SPRUNT: And both those houses - in this case, Democrats and Republicans - remain extremely dug in.
THAU: I imagine each side has some strategy that causes them to think the other side is going to blink first. But they're playing with fire. I don't see where this is a win for either political party.
SPRUNT: Another political reality he thinks won't go over so well? The public is about to lose their food assistance. Members of Congress? They're still getting paid. Barbara Sprunt, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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