Local food bank and pantry leaders anticipate an upcoming rollback of a stimulus boost to food stamp benefits will increase demand for their services when donations are already scarce.
Centenary College student Julia Mechanic, left, 22, puts a can of soup into a box after applying a label during the college's day-long community service experience at the NORWESCAP Food Bank. A federal program to help low-income families buy food will no longer get an infusion of stimulus cash in November, leading local nonprofits to expect a bigger demand for services when donations are already sparse.
Benefit increases to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will end Oct. 31, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program will have used an estimated $45.2 billion in stimulus funds since the increases began in April 2009, according to the USDA.
Helene Meissner, director of the NORWESCAP food bank program in Warren County, said the federal program is especially important at a time when food banks have less and less to offer the food pantries and soup kitchens they stock. She has worked for the Phillipsburg-based nonprofit for five years, and doesn’t remember as many empty shelves in the warehouse as there are now, she said.
The federal aid allows people to buy groceries for themselves and gives them greater variety in their food choices, Meissner said.
A living wage could make a real difference in the hunger issue, she said. Although some say the economy is recovering, it’s going to be awhile before people who seek assistance from food pantries or soup kitchens see a turnaround, Meissner said.
“If they could make a decent living wage, they wouldn’t need us,” she said. “These are working families that just cannot make ends meet with the salary they earn at their job or jobs."
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates New Jersey will see a $90 million decrease in SNAP benefits from November 2013 through September 2014, and Pennsylvania will see a $183 million reduction. The cuts equate to about a $10 reduction in benefits per person per month, according to the center.
The center reports 873,000 New Jersey residents and nearly 1.78 million Pennsylvania residents receive SNAP benefits and will be impacted by the cuts.
People are upset they need to come to a food pantry, but they just can’t make ends meet without the support, said Sister Michaelita Popovice. Popovice is the program director for the Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen Social Service Center, 327 S. Main St., Phillipsburg.
The center has a food pantry that serves an estimated 450 to 500 families a month, Popovice said. She said she sees the struggle firsthand when people come in for help.
“I talk to them. I see the worry, the stress when they come in," Popovice said. "They are actually suffering because of lack of food.”
Popovice said the pantry’s workers hope donors give more food or monetary gifts to help meet increased needs if the SNAP boost expires. She sees more new households coming to the pantry each month as it is.
In July, 44 new households sought help from the pantry, up from 21 new households that came to the pantry in June, Popovice said. The families who come are working part-time or minimum wage, she said.
“What would help is people finding work and making a living wage. People cannot do it on $7.25 an hour,” she said. “How can you take care of a family on that?”