By Leah Douglas
SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) -When Daletia Chung, of Montgomery County, Maryland, learned that her November food benefits would be delayed, she immediately made a plan with extended family to share meals and groceries so she could keep herself and her child fed.
But she can’t lean on them forever, she said after picking up a basket of groceries from the Manna Food Center food bank in Silver Spring.
“If I don’t receive any (benefits) in two weeks, then I’m going to wonder, what are the options?” Chung said.
Chung is among the nearly 42 million Americans whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps, are delayed by the ongoing government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history.
For many of them, the start of November has brought confusion, concern and painful choices as the food aid program lapsed for the first time in its 60-year history.
The administration of President Donald Trump has said it will comply with a federal court order to issue partial benefits this month, but has repeatedly warned the money could take weeks to reach SNAP recipients.
In the meantime, recipients are carefully managing already tight budgets, turning to food pantries, and making sacrifices to try to weather the turbulence.
Amandah Treaster, 47, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said she has only filled half her monthly prescriptions so she can save money for food.
Treaster also keeps a second calendar to track when she is eligible to collect food at certain pantries, which often restrict how frequently clients can visit. And, she says, she is eating less at each meal and conserving everything she can.
“It’s very chaotic right now.”
BENEFIT DELAY LEADS TO STRESS
About 80% of SNAP households include either a child, an elderly person or a non-elderly person with a disability, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
To be eligible for SNAP, recipients must make less than 130% of the federal poverty line, or $1,632 a month for a one-person household and $2,215 for a two-person household in many areas.
Some recipients, like Lucia Graves of New Hampshire, work full-time. SNAP benefits help her feed her 5-year-old daughter and make ends meet on her teacher’s aide salary.
With SNAP delayed, she will likely turn to pantries, though they are often closed after work hours and present another hurdle to her busy schedule, Graves said.
“It’s definitely going to be another toll. Something else on the long list of things that we already do,” Graves said.
Bruce Gros, 64, of Tulsa, is retired and disabled and lives on a fixed monthly income. He receives $121 in monthly SNAP benefits, which he supplements with visits to food banks and with farmers’ market promotions that double his benefits when shopping for fruits and vegetables.
Now, he anticipates receiving just $15 per week in November under the administration’s plan to dole out 50% of SNAP recipients’ typical allotments.
In September and October, he ran out of benefits before the end of the month because of higher grocery costs.
“When you are taking away this support of food, that creates stress. Stress is a contributor to ill health,” Gros said. “There are people who will suffer and who will have to go without.”
FOOD BANK IN ‘AN UNTENABLE SITUATION’
At the Manna Food Center in Silver Spring, which borders Washington, D.C., clients arrive at appointed times and can select items from orderly shelves stocked with canned goods and fridges full of produce.
On Tuesday, volunteers greeted customers in a small lobby outside the pantry, located in an office building about 12 miles (19.31 kilometers) from the White House.
The market has seen higher demand since the start of the Trump administration, due to the compounding effects of federal layoffs and the shutdown, said CEO Craig Rice.
Since the start of November, the group has opened an additional food distribution site and increased its output by 35% to try to keep up with spiking demand from SNAP delays, aided by county funds and individual donations, Rice said.
“We are tasked with trying to make up whatever difference we can for those individuals,” Rice said.
“It’s an untenable situation.”
Aameiyah Beauzieux, 20, and Alex Larenas, 21, donated several large plastic tubs of canned goods to the pantry on Tuesday after participating in a food drive.
They said they were moved to donate the food after seeing the toll federal job cuts and benefit delays were taking on their community in Montgomery County.
“Some people just don’t have the resources, so having spaces like this is really important,” Beauzieux said. “It helps a lot of people.”
(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; editing by Patricia Reaney)
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