Skip to content

Government Shutdowns, SNAP benefits, and My Little Brother

Sitting here in a count on a Saturday, my mind wanders as I peruse the news. Out of nowhere, the thoughts comes unbidden as I see there is a refusal to release funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP Benefits, formerly known as Food Stamps) during this governmental prowess-waving contest called a Government Shutdown:

  • My little brother, JJ, who left prison at the end of August 2025 may be negatively affected by the stopping of SNAP.
  • Many of my clients who were on the Oregon Health Plan back home may also be affected by this halting of benefits.
  • Already overtaxed food pantries and similar programs will find themselves stretched, perhaps to a breaking point.

From here, I can do nothing to help. ... or can I? Let me log into your hearts for a few minutes with my thoughts.

I can but hope that JJ has somehow landed housing and gainful employment, knowing that his barriers to working are large -- he doesn't have a high school diploma or a GED despite his efforts to ameliorate that here at Blessington, and he has no job history on top of the four years he spent here in prison.

It's to my understanding that people fresh out of prison or other lockups are reliant on the safety net of supplemental food assistance as they reenter society, so that they have a way to eat while they search for work. After all, people need to refuel their bodies!
JJ will likely turn to a food pantry if one is available, but with one in eight people on SNAP (that's 12.5% of Americans) at risk of not receiving benefits, and many more above the threshold for SNAP but obviously financially struggling, I wager that many, if not most food banks are already feeling an increase in pressure as the tendency to panic gather in times of scarcity resurfaces. This negatively couples with the general lack of donations from those who can afford it in times of plenty.
After all, don't tell me you all have already forgotten the Great Toilet Paper, Bleach, and Hand Sanitizer shortages of 2020. :')
This means that boxes from the pantries will either have reduced contents to reach more people, or maintain content levels with more people being told, "We apologize, but there is no more food to give today/this week/this month." Projects like my home city's little food pantries (which are small boxes on residential properties at the fence line that may contain cans of food) will likely stay empty as the squeeze on already tight budgets gets tighter.

Some may get lucky on the Meta-owned Facebook or the Amazon-owned NextDoor by finding out for the first time about gleaning groups -- people who gain lawful permission from property owners to enter their premises and harvest leftover fruits and vegetables with a promise to not destroy the plants or private property.
As suggestion from where I lived, if our Italian Plum tree and Kiwifruit vines were loaded and we've gathered our fill, but goodness me, there's still another 10 pounds of each fruit to gather, we could hop on one of those sites, say there's a boatload of plums and kiwifruit looking for a good belly to fill. A person or two could chime in, ask to drop by, and harvest the remnants with our blessing; just bring your own pails or baskets to haul your catch.

Payment? Just say thank you and don't intentionally damage our home, please. If you have a good recipe for your gleanings, maybe share it with us -- we like trying new things!

Would you believe that's not only neighborly, but also a form of Right Action, a way to fight food waste, and spread caring in a world that seems to have forgotten the word exists?

Other options include those of us with an abundance of growing produce researching if a local food pantry will take perishable produce, and if so, harvesting, and donating it ourselves. I've heard that many pantries avoided perishables in the past because they go bad before they get eaten, but in this new now, I would be surprised if that's an actual issue for anything other than zucchini. :)

This situation makes my heart hurt, both because there are people suffering at the recalcitrance of our elected officials to properly work together and execute on the will of our people, and because we are unnecessarily increasing food insecurity across this nation.

Let's work together as humans, please? Forget colors, forget parties, bring knives, forks, and spoons, and let's sup together.