Tucked away on a small dead-end street near Roger Williams Park, right at the border where Providence meets Cranston, the line for a bag of groceries from the Interfaith Food Pantry stretches a few feet from the building’s entrance to the food pantry door. By the pantry manager’s estimate, there are about three times as many visitors there that morning than there usually is at this time of day.
It’s 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 1. The pantry has been open for 15 minutes.
“We’re going to cope, we’re going to get through it, but we’re seeing a real surge in demand,” the Interfaith Food Ministry’s pantry manager, Kevin Phelan, said. “Last week we did double our normal number of distributions, and this week we anticipate it to be even higher, but we’re prepared, and we’re going to get through it.”
The Interfaith Food Ministry is one of the handful of food pantries in Rhode Island that operate on Saturdays, but preparations for this particular Saturday began to take shape weeks before, Phelan said.
By Monday, Nov. 3, the federal government shutdown will have been in effect for 35 days, matching the record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history, which was set during the first Trump administration. Triggered by a congressional impasse over passing the next federal budget, the shutdown has already affected funding for several federal programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, payments for which were set to freeze on Nov. 1.
The line of people waiting to visit the Central Falls Foundation’s pop-up food pantry on Nov. 1 stretched along Hunt Street, from the pantry entrance nearly to the intersection with Broad Street.
How many Rhode Islanders receive SNAP benefits?
Roughly one in eight Americans – including some 143,000 Rhode Islanders – receive SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, making it the nation’s largest food aid program. And while federal judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to tap into emergency reserve funds to continue SNAP benefits during the shutdown, relief is likely to be delayed due to anticipated government appeals. The possible loss of benefits is creating a sense of uncertainty for Rhode Islanders who rely on assistance to feed their families.
Comfort Bass was one of the many who obtained a pre-prepared bag of groceries at Interfaith Food Ministry the morning of Nov. 1. As she helped her family pack food and children back into their car, she said she wasn’t happy with the possible loss of federal food assistance, as she uses SNAP benefits to help feed her children. However, she said she’ll find ways to feed her family regardless, noting the number of food pantries and related assistance organizations available in Rhode Island.
“We’ll make it,” Bass said. “This is the first time it’s happened [to us], so we’ll deal with it.”
Phelan said he’s received more calls for information about the food pantry’s hours of operation during the week before Nov. 1 than at any other point that year. The organization is among the 137 food pantries partnered with the statewide Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which helps distribute food to roughly 89,000 Rhode Islanders each month through its partner organizations. Interfaith Food Ministry is also a joint effort between five member churches that Phelan said have been “very generous” with money and food drives.
Waiting in line hours early at pop-up food bank in Central Falls
Interfaith Food Ministry was not the only pantry having a busy Saturday. The Central Falls Foundation hosted a pop-up food bank on Nov. 1, the line for which stretched down Hunt Street for roughly half a block. Though it didn’t officially open until 11 a.m., Central Falls Housing Authority Executive Director Bridgett Duquette said someone started waiting outside as early as 6 a.m., in hopes of getting food before their work shift began at noon.
“That’s something to think about, right?” Duquette said. “You have a job and you have to go to the food pantry because you’re not going to make it.”
Volunteers at the Central Falls Foundation’s pop-up pantry worked to get crates of food off trucks and into carts on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The Central Falls Foundation is an effort born out of the Housing Authority in 1995 to provide additional services to the surrounding community. With help from the City of Central Falls itself, the pop-up was organized in a little under a week.
Mayor Maria Rivera was there Saturday, greeting visitors and helping a few volunteers. She said about a quarter of Central Falls residents, about 5,100 people, use SNAP.
“The amount of people who are coming is overwhelming, because the need is overwhelming,” Rivera said. “It’s also very hurtful that we have to do this because of the government shutdown. This isn’t fair to the people, and this isn’t about parties, this isn’t about politics. This is about people, especially the senior community and the children that are not going to have the food they need.”
Duquette and Rivera shared several stories from the pantry’s operations that afternoon, including a story about one child who asked if the pantry had apples. The child’s mother confessed to them that she hadn’t been able to afford apples for the past two months.
The Central Falls pantry functioned differently than Interfaith Food Ministry’s, likely due in part to the increased resources and space they were able to use. Using donated shopping carts from Price Rite and sectioning off a large paved area into food category-based sections, it allowed visitors to pick and choose the items they wanted, a distribution process Duquette said was designed as a way to preserve a sense of dignity and autonomy for those visiting the pantry pop-up. Duquette emphasized the foundation’s efforts to get familiar, shelf-stable products it knew its community members would use, such as tortillas, beans, rice and plantains.
“It was really important for everybody to focus on, ‘What are the needs of this community?’ and ‘What do we think people really need?’ and also getting food that is going to last,” Duquette said.
On Saturday, the organization’s goal was to provide between 800 and 1,000 people with enough food to last a little over a week. Duquette said that if SNAP goes unfunded, they plan to hold another pop-up pantry in about two weeks. She asked those interested in helping support their efforts to donate to the Central Falls Foundation online at centralfallsfoundation.org. She estimates that it currently takes about $50 to feed a family for a week.
“Any donation helps,” Duquette said. “We’re hoping every little bit comes in. I almost cried last night because somebody donated $25. I have no idea who they are, but to me, that meant more to me than the people donating hundreds. You knew that was a sacrifice for that person. They’re giving back to their community, and that’s all we asked for. Five dollars can help your neighbor, if you can spare five dollars.”
While the Central Falls Foundation focuses primarily on Central Falls residents, dozens of other food banks and pantries throughout the state service other communities. Those interested in either receiving food from a local pantry, volunteering at one, or donating to one can find several using the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s Find Food map at rifoodbank.org.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: SNAP benefits freeze brings crowds to RI food pantries November 1
