How a central Ohio mother is navigating the loss of SNAP benefits

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- It has been more than a week since the November SNAP payments were supposed to come in.

Over one million Ohioans who rely on SNAP assistance are in limbo waiting for their cards to be reloaded. SNAP is the federal food assistance program, paused due to the government shutdown and a judicial back-and-forth about emergency funding. In the mean time, Ohioans are forced to make difficult decisions to keep food on the table.

“I have felt dehumanized. I have felt like the people around me and my community that are struggling, have been dehumanized,” Brooke Rickman, Columbus resident and SNAP recipient, said.

Rickman is a working mother, with a 4-year-old and twins under 1 year. She has relied on SNAP for more than four years.

“All of my bill money goes to bills and so SNAP has been the sole reason that my kids have been fed. The sole reason I’ve been fed. So now we’re kind of in a position where there is no food,” she said.

At the beginning of November, her SNAP card wasn’t reloaded. She is still waiting.

“As much as we hear on the news, like, 'Oh, it's coming or it's happening,' the reality for my family is it isn't happening,” Rickman said.

It’s forced her to make sacrifices like choosing between food and gas.

“For me, it's not just food," Rickman said. "This impacts my gas. This impacts the ability to pay the rest of my bills because in my household, every dollar has a home and the grocery home was our food benefits and that's gone."

Rickman said she is taking it day by day. She stretched her remaining SNAP balance as far as possible and has relied on help from the community.

“My kids are not being fed because all of a sudden this has lit a fire in me to pull up my bootstraps. I've already pulled them up. That's all I've been doing," Rickman said. "The only way my kids are eating as of right now is the fact that I have a community.”