Arkansas will distribute $500,000 among six regional food bank networks in the state, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday, as SNAP benefits are set to stop on Nov. 1.
However, shortly after the announcement, two federal judges ruled near simultaneously that the Trump administration’s decision to pause payments starting Nov. 1 was illegal. While a Boston-based judge gave the administration until Monday to respond to her ruling before deciding on a motion to force the payment of benefits, a judge in Rhode Island ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue the payments.
Sanders also said she would consider additional weekly allocations from Arkansas’ restricted reserve funds if the federal government shutdown continues past next week. In a press release, she said the chairs of the Arkansas Legislative Council granted emergency approval to release the funds.
The announcement and subsequent federal court rulings come as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is set to stop paying benefits on Nov. 1 as a result of the ongoing federal shutdown and the Trump administration’s refusal to use emergency funds to continue paying program recipients.
The decision by USDA, which oversees the decades-old food assistance program, sparked nationwide, bipartisan concerns and a scramble by food banks, nonprofits, and state and local governments to prepare for a surge in need by low-income Americans when the funds dry up.
The funds directed to Arkansas food bank networks won’t replace SNAP benefits. The federal government paid out more than $41 million in SNAP benefits to Arkansans in May alone, according to initial data from the USDA.
Republican governors and legislators in Virginia and Louisiana have already loosened their states’ purse strings to pay out benefits in November, with Louisiana preparing to spend upwards of $150 million a month to keep the program afloat during the funding lapse.
The federal government has traditionally covered the full cost of SNAP benefits and split the costs of administering the program with states.
Sanders, who frequently touts her record on addressing childhood food insecurity in public appearances, blamed Senate Democrats for the shutdown in a written statement.
“What Senate Democrats are doing is unconscionable, playing political games with the food assistance that nearly a quarter million Arkansans rely on,” Sanders said. “The simplest, fastest solution remains for Democrats to reopen the government and fund programs like SNAP, but in the meantime, my administration will work with our legislators, churches, and food banks to help feed Arkansans.”
Senate Republicans and Democrats remained deadlocked on funding the government as of Friday.
The food banks that will receive equal portions of the the funds are:
Northwest Arkansas Food Bank at Springdale
Food Bank of North Central Arkansas at Norfolk
Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas at Jonesboro
River Valley Regional Food Bank at Fort Smith
Arkansas Foodbank at Little Rock
Harvest Regional Food Bank at Texarkana
Sanders said HelpArkansas.com “will direct Arkansans to food assistance resources throughout the state and will be updated as the government shutdown continues.”
Those wanting to donate food or time to Arkansans in need can find information on the same website, as well as the websites of each of the food banks linked above.
‘No way we can hold the line’
Kate Jenkins, director of marketing and communications for Arkansas Foodbank, expressed gratitude for the roughly $83,000 her organization will receive from the pot of money, saying it would allow them to purchase “the first couple truckloads” of the 12 to 13 additional trucks of food they believe they will need.
“It’s definitely a great starting point,” she said.
But the looming SNAP cutoff is already having effects. Food banks in their 33-county service area saw the number of first-time visitors increase 10% to 20% “just this week, in preparation for the possibility that SNAP benefits won’t get funded,” Jenkins said.
Arkansas Foodbank is happy to help anyone hungry as a result of the federal shutdown. “That is our prerogative. That is our mission. That is our job,” Jenkins said. “However, we already serve 280,000 Arkansans, just as the Arkansas Food Bank.”
With the shutdown, there are now between 15,000 to 20,000 federal workers in the food bank’s area without paychecks and roughly 49% of the state’s approximately 240,000 SNAP enrollees are within Arkansas Foodbank’s service area as well, she said.
The SNAP interruption means many of those people will be looking to get assistance elsewhere.
“We are conservatively estimating that there will be an increase of 100,000 people on top of the 300,000 we’re currently serving” as a result of SNAP payments not going out, Jenkins said. “There’s just no way that we can hold the line as the charitable food system.”
Jenkins said those wishing to help can learn how to donate food or volunteer on Arkansas Foodbank’s website.
“A lot of these pantries are going to have a spike in first time visitors specifically, but just in traffic in general,” she said. “For every $1 that is donated to the food bank, we can provide five meals.”
Kent Eikenberry, the president and CEO of Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, said in an email that the money from the state “comes at a very opportune time.”
While he couldn’t speak for other food banks, Eikenberry said the funds would be used to assist their partner agencies, purchase additional food for mobile and school pantries and stock up on low-stock items.
But Eikenberry said while the funds are “appreciated, it does not negate the fact that for every meal we distribute, SNAP generates nine meals.”
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