‘I Get Up at 4 in the Morning to Go to the Food Pantry’

Earlier this week, the Trump administration, compelled by a federal-court order, agreed to partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But for the 42 million Americans who rely on the nation’s largest anti-hunger program to feed their families and pay their expenses, there was little relief to be found without receiving their benefits. Around 12:30 on a Thursday afternoon, the line for the food pantry at Harlem’s Community Kitchen, a branch of NYC’s Food Bank, snaked down the block and around the corner. “We’ve already been open for three hours. Usually, we have 10 to 20 people outside, but right now, we’ve got 50 to 60,” said director Sultana Ocasio. She predicts even more pain on the horizon of what has now become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history: “The added twist of the knife is that it’s the holidays,” she said. “This is already a time where folks count their pennies.”

SNAP, also known as food stamps, has become a sinister bargaining chip for Republicans looking to end the shutdown on their terms. Rather than tap into a $6 billion contingency fund to pay out the benefits, the Trump administration initially opted to let the money run out, triggering what some experts fear will become “the worst hunger catastrophe since the Great Depression.” The administration also filed an appeal in federal court Friday to block a separate judge’s order that requires it to pay out SNAP benefits in full, claiming the order violates the Constitution. While some recipients in states like California have reportedly received SNAP payments, the money has yet to hit New Yorkers’ bank accounts, leaving thousands to wonder if, when, and how they will feed their families.

Below, four women impacted by the cuts talk about traveling for meals, rationing their benefits, and helping others stay afloat during this crisis.

The senior waking up at 4 a.m. to stand on line at food pantries

I’m 68. I’ve lived in Harlem for eight years. I’ve been on food stamps for 20 years. I first got on when I was young, with my mom; then I got my own case. Usually, I get over $200 a month. I can go to the store and get ham, turkey, neck bones. I like spaghetti. I make my own homemade sauce. I buy healthy stuff, too, like cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, and a lot of vegetables, but now that’s gone. I hardly got any food, I ran out at the end of last month. So I have no choice but to go around to pantries.

I get up at four or five in the morning to get to these pantries. The lines are around the corner. By the time you finish, it’s lunchtime. But from 5 a.m. to lunchtime, in the winter, you have to wait outside, and it’s freezing. I never thought this would happen because of the children. I can survive and travel to different pantries to eat, but children? What are these babies going to do? Those cans of infant milk and Similac cost $50. How are people going to feed their kids? They depend on this. I broke down in tears when I heard about the cuts, because the first thing on my mind was the kids.

The young mother looking to pick up extra shifts to replace her $500 benefit

I’m a mom and a security guard. I have a 3-year-old. I was really dependent on food stamps. I heard about it two weeks ago on Instagram, I saw posts from Donald Trump’s account, Bronx News accounts, Fox 5. I did my own research and realized, “Okay, this is real. They’re cutting it off.” I really didn’t think this would happen. It’s been so consistent. I get $535 every month, and I use it to buy groceries. I go to my neighborhood market or buy stuff on Amazon. That money lasts a good three weeks, and then that last week of the month, I’ll use my own cash. But it was a healthy amount of money for me and my child, and dealing with a picky 3-year-old? Her food is expensive. She likes good yogurt, good tea. We haven’t gotten anything this month, but I heard that they are giving out cash assistance. I typically get $100 a month in cash assistance from the state, which hasn’t come yet.

I got really comfortable on food stamps, and now I need to figure out if this is a short-term thing or a long-term thing. If it’s long-term, I need to pick up more shifts and find more work. It’s a little uncomfortable now; $500 of food is gone. I probably can’t measure up to that, but I’ll be able to keep food in the fridge. It takes the government a whole year to gather our information and figure out estimates and payments for the program. I don’t know why, when Trump is in office, the signatures aren’t going out and they can’t fund millions of people. The government is losing points for this whole situation.

The senior trying to stretch $25 in benefits as far as possible

I’m 73. I live in Harlem, and I’ve been on food stamps for 10 or 20 years. It goes according to your income, and I don’t really get much, only $25 a month. But what I learned how to do, even before I knew they were going to pull all this mess, is I saved up on my card so I can still use it. I also get Over-the-Counter (OTC), so I learned how to divide up shopping expenses using my SNAP and OTC.

My mother taught me to budget as a younger person. Some people don’t like to budget, but I’m a senior and I still need to do it. I learned where I can get stuff for less: I found one supermarket on Lexington and 116th Street where things were inexpensive; there’s another store my son told me about on 124th Street and Third Avenue. I know I can use my EBT card at Walmart. I go to smaller supermarkets where things are reasonably priced.

The chef preparing to serve up to 1,000 meals a day

I’ve been at Community Kitchen for almost ten years. Lately, I’m seeing more children and more families. Entire families. Usually, I might see a mother come in, or a mother with a daughter or a father with a daughter, but not the entire family. Now, they’re all coming in and sitting for dinner, and they are coming from all five boroughs. When I go outside and look at the pantry line, it’s down the block. In the evening, it’s around the corner.

I check my numbers daily to gauge how much food is being prepared, and I saw the spike in people coming through our doors a week ago. Normally, at the beginning and middle of the month, you’ll see less people because they get SNAP and EBT. Then, the numbers go back up around the third or fourth week of the month. Now, we’re seeing highs where there were lows. I cook about 700 meals a day, but I just started increasing meals by 20 a day for both seniors and the community. If nothing changes, I see us putting out as many meals as we did during COVID: 1,000 meals a day.

Being a single mother and having two daughters, I understand the majority of our clients and what they are going through mentally, physically, and emotionally. It’s rough. I’m grateful to be in a situation to help, but people need to take the blinders off and realize this has been going on. Food insecurity is real. It’s ongoing. It never stopped.