SNAP freeze leaves 76,000 RGV families in limbo as food banks launch disaster-style response

Community pantries across the Rio Grande Valley are bracing for an influx of families in need as about 76,000 households face a temporary loss of food assistance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will halt November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) due to the federal government shutdown, which began Oct. 1. 

It’s the first time an administration has suspended assistance since the program’s inception in 1964.

With about 22,000 SNAP households in Cameron County alone, food pantries in Harlingen have joined forces, holding weekly meetings and forming a plan to best assist the affected families in the area. 

Loaves & Fishes of the RGV Director of Finance and Operations Melissa Gutierrez said the organizations usually only come together for Hunger Action Month. To her knowledge, they’ve never been in this situation before.

Participating entities include American Red Cross of South Texas, the Harlingen Neighborhood Food Pantry, and the Texas State Technical College (TSTC) Food Pantry.

“We’ve already met with the city twice, speaking on food insecurity here in the Harlingen community and how we can prepare for that,” Gutierrez said. “We’re all on the same page. We’re setting up a committee, but it’s going to take some time to figure out how to raise funds for that.”

Still, time is of the essence. 

“Everybody’s hurting, but I know that we’re getting ready in our kitchen,” she said. “We feed the hungry three meals a day, five days a week. And we’re getting ready for possibly seeing increases in families coming because of the SNAP program.”

Gutierrez said pantries in the Harlingen area have geographical restrictions to prevent people from “double-dipping” and allow the organizations to help more individuals. But with the lapse in federal food assistance benefits, the pantries discussed lifting those restrictions. 

However, they have not finalized anything. 

They will continue discussions at the next meeting on Nov. 4. 

“We want to be prepared; we don’t want to have to turn families away,” Gutierrez said. “What’s good about Harlingen is the community comes together. We have so many people that have a relationship with Loaves & Fishes — givers and donors. During hard times like this, the community comes together and helps.”

Bracing for a surge

The Food Bank of the RGV reported a 50% increase in people at the Pharr location on Tuesday. 

CEO Libby Saenz said 120 families needed assistance in just that one morning, whereas the usual turnout is 120 families per day. 

If history is any indication, the uptick in numbers is just a taste of what’s to come. 

Saenz said the food bank saw a 23% increase in the number of people the orginzation served during the 2018 government shutdown, which only affected government workers. 

The CEO said several of the 275 food bank partners have called asking what to do and how to handle the increase in people. Although the organization does not have a plan in place for a pause in SNAP benefits, the Feeding Texas and Feeding America networks have advised the food bank to treat the situation as a disaster relief.

“Whenever there’s a disaster here in the Valley, the food bank, we’re first responders. So that’s exactly how we’re doing it,” Saenz said. “As a disaster, we’re making calls out to our retail [partners] and other organizations. We’re asking for more money so we can go purchase some more food in case we need it to help with some of our overhead costs. So we’re already working on that. And of course, we’re going to be putting a shout out to our community.”

Funding cuts add pressure

To exacerbate matters, the food bank was already playing catch-up coming into October, before the government shutdown and impending lapse in food aid. 

Earlier this year, the USDA cut $500 million in funding for the Commodity Credit Corporation, which affected food banks in the states. 

Saenz said the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley was supposed to get about 23 loads of food through that program, which would have sustained them and partnering agencies for the summer, one of the busiest seasons. But when the USDA cut funding, the food bank resorted to public assistance because its shelves were “so empty.”

However, things are starting to look up, Saenz said. 

More products have been coming into the food bank within the last two weeks through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Dry goods stock has been low, but the organization has more produce to supplement. 

The food pantries in Harlingen hope the local food bank can assist them in keeping families fed until SNAP resumes.

“Little by little, we’re going to start seeing more product coming through,” Saenz said. “But it’s hard when there’s no money. So that’s been difficult, but it’s getting better, thank God.”