The difference six short months can make is monumental. One month, families will have a pantry full of protein-packed pick-me-ups and boldly balanced bites, a few months later, the protein packed and boldly balanced foods that SNAP benefits provide subsides, leaving pantries and refrigerators close to empty.
Food stamps are extremely important. 41.7 million families rely on them just to have food on the table each night. When the government takes away a staple in many homes, people need to adjust their nutrition to the cheapest and sometimes only option. This causes many to become sick or starve. That’s just the beginning; food banks and pantries can only provide so much. What would happen if the next cut on food stamps were permanent?
SNAP benefits are the largest food assistance program in the nation, along with anti-poverty programs for the elderly. They spend around 100 billion dollars to use for everyone’s food stamps. Even though the government had around 6 billion dollars worth of funds, President Donald Trump’s administration stopped the production of food stamps on November 1, 2025. This went down as the first time in 61 years that the government has failed to deliver the needs for our country relating to SNAP Benefits, said NY Books.
Michelle Cote, the director of our local Templeton food pantry, met many new faces during this time. With the new faces also came the emotions. “Someone who really stood out to me was a single mother of five children. It was her first time coming to a food pantry. She expressed how embarrassed she was to be here, but grateful we were open to helping her and her children,” Cote said.
Low-income families’ food assistance was either substantially cut or eliminated. With the holiday season, families were struggling to prepare. Food costs plenty as it is, with the holidays, many families worry about not being able to have the usual turkey dinner on the special Thursday of November or the huge family Christmas feast.
¨No matter what district you’re in, rather that it’s generally rich or poor, there are always people who struggle,¨ said Daniel Costigan, Oakmont’s personal finance teacher.
Invented in 1939, food stamps were used to help citizens during a tragic time: The Great Depression. With the employment rate plummeting and the economic collapse in the 1930s, food was barely in the consumer’s budget.
That’s when food stamps came into play. The Food Stamp Program (FSP) was credited to numerous people. The company came up with a system. People would buy orange stamps, permitting around the same amount of food funds they usually use. For each dollar worth of orange stamps bought, half of that was given back in blue stamps. Orange stamps were used to purchase food, and blue stamps were used to purchase any food determined by the Department, FNS stated.
James Either, history and sociology teacher, said, “I never truly realized the levels of food security we have, even with the food stamps, people are still going hungry… this is supposed to be a passionate country–when things like this happen, it tarnishes what the country stands for.”
Ethier is correct, according to Food Security, 11.2 million households in the U.S. were food insecure, even with food stamps. Yes, the food stamps may help–but they often don’t last the entire month, leaving families to fend for themselves.
Lawful immigrants potentially lost the benefits altogether. That doesn’t just include immigrants, it includes refugees, survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking, those granted asylum, etc. It was stated on cbpp.org that only certain citizens would be able to become eligible after a 5-year waiting period.
Families were not the only ones affected by this. Local food banks, food pantries, and other donation/distribution centers became overwhelmed with everyone coming in.
Cote noticed a rise in panic once the cut happened. Many people began calling the pantry. Even though there was a panic for families — both younger and older —the amount of gratitude showed what their community stands for. Throughout this rough time, the community-driven pantry flourished with fully stocked shelves, helping around 600-700 families in need. With the cut implemented, they were able to help everyone without having to limit each person to a certain amount each day. With people feeling as if they must stock up as much as they could, the pantry was truly there for them.
Cote summarized the situation accurately when she said, ¨When the government couldn’t, the community could.¨
A few years ago, Oakmont was fortunate enough to have an assembly on food stamps. The presenters, The Healthy Incentives Program, shared that their initiative helps those in need by adding funds onto their EBT card to use for local, participating farm stands. That way, there was an opportunity to have freshly grown fruits and veggies. It showed students why it is important to get the funds–especially for seniors going into college. The only requirement was to be enrolled in SNAP. It was well-received and made a positive impact on many students.
Within the positivity, from the helpful food banks, pantries, etc, there was a negative side to it. People had resorted to violence to be able to have food on the table each night. There was an uptick in shoplifting, including posts on the famous platform, TikTok. A woman videoed herself “stealing” at her local market with the caption, Easy Peasy. She also recorded people waiting outside of grocery stores, ready to rob those who had enough food in their carts.
“When food banks run dry, and benefits disappear– logically, people will do anything to survive–meaning it’s not surprising that theft of food has happened since the loss of the benefits. I would think the number one reason for crime is, in fact, poverty and socioeconomic status,” Costigan said.
The Department of Public Health has contacted all school nurses within the AWRSD district, encouraging them to keep an eye on the students who didn’t have lunch or didn’t eat at all. Their goal was to stock up as many snacks as possible in the nurse’s office for students. Along with longer amounts of time to eat, and mentioning food access for families, schools have worked to anonymously help families in need for the upcoming holidays.
While the cut ended November 12th – just 12 days later – its impact has left its mark. So, still now, with SNAP benefits restored, food bank organizations have noticed a continued rise in needs for food and home essentials. This is predicted to continue throughout the holidays. Apart from that, not everyone’s benefits have been restored. There’s a high chance that they will never be the exact same for each of the 42 million participants. ABC News and CBO claimed they estimate around 1.1 million people will lose all SNAP benefits between the present time and 2034.
