Food banks in Tennessee are experiencing higher-than-usual demand because SNAP federal food benefits were temporarily cut off during the federal government shutdown. Volunteers from Corinth Missionary Baptist Church prepared food to distribute to people in need of food assistance. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Care & Share is the last food resource in Unicoi County, where many residents are out of work a year after Hurricane Helene destroyed local factories and businesses.
One in 10 county residents now uses the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to put food on the table.
When November 1 SNAP was not paid, a small Christian ministry that normally serves only 20 families a week saw twice as much demand and distributed regular food supplies to 38.
“We believe that God will provide, that He loves us and supports the work that we do, that our work is His work and I believe that He will,” said executive director Ben Booher.
“But the human side of me sometimes looks at our shelves and into the eyes of the people we serve, and it’s hard. It’s scary.”
Tennessee food banks are reporting a big increase in demand this month as the Trump administration continues to go to court to stop all SNAP payments while the government shutdown continues.
Late Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court order requiring the Trump administration to pay for November food benefits, even as some states began distributing SNAP funds. Tennessee had not yet begun distributing benefits before the Supreme Court’s order. On Sunday, the Senate took the first steps toward revising the federal government to resume SNAP benefits.
The high court’s order halts any decision on the benefits pending a federal appeals court hearing.
It remains unclear when the nearly 700,000 Tennesseans who rely on SNAP will be able to access all or partial benefits.
“At this time, we do not have a confirmed date for when partial benefits will be available,” a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Human Services said Friday.
And the $5 million in state funding for food pantries announced last week by Gov. Bill Lee has not yet reached the Second Middle Tennessee Harvest, which the state earmarked to distribute funds to food banks across the state to meet growing food demand.
Meanwhile, Tennessee families are turning to food banks to fill the gap left without the November SNAP payment, which averages about $340 a month for a family of four.
Sunday at Nashville’s Great St. More than 200 cars parked at John the Baptist Church. Organizers of the food giveaway planned to open at 8 a.m. in the morning but opened early with people lining up as early as 5am, including 50 people on foot. About half of those served were SNAP recipients. Most were older: half were over 56 years of age.
Bellevue Community Food Bank in west suburban Nashville opens every Tuesday night to provide families in west suburban Nashville with non-perishable items and meat and vegetables when they are available.
Director Robin Dillon said the food bank, which operates out of the back of the Methodist church, had appealed for more community donations and called for extra volunteers in the hope of a bigger than usual crowd.
The food bank typically visits 70-90 families each week. They saw another 50 people on Tuesday, most of them for the first time, she said.
“It was 100% about SNAP. People are scared and they don’t know where their next meal is going to come from,” she said.
Ernest Ellison said there has been a similar increase in needy families going to the food pantry run by Helping Hands of Humboldt, a small food ministry in Gibson County.
The food pantry has a steady stream of regulars who come to supplement their SNAP benefits or limited incomes in the rural community of 7,000.
Last week, the pantry served 22 new families, representing about 70 individuals in need of food. The new customers are mostly SNAP recipients, he said.
But food pantry operators also worry they won’t have the capacity to meet needs if SNAP payments continue to be withheld.
“We were ready — it hadn’t happened yet — but we were ready to say I’m giving away my last can of beans,” said Booher, director of Unicoi County Care & Share.
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