Full SNAP payments are on the way. Food banks and SNAP recipients are playing catch-up

The federal government shutdown is over and full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments on the way, but Nebraskans are still facing uncertainty over food assistance.

Partial SNAP monthly payments were disbursed Wednesday night by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services when the shutdown ended. Some Nebraskans received up to 65% of their monthly payments, while others received less or nothing at all.

Full and remaining payments should be on the way soon.

"After guidance was received from the USDA authorizing partial issuances, the team immediately worked to ensure these payments were issued as soon as possible,” DHHS Office of Economic Assistance Director Shannon Grotrian said in a press release. “Now that the federal government is officially reopened, we will work to distribute the remaining benefits as soon as the USDA provides final authorization.”

Eric Savaiano, program manager for food and nutrition access at Nebraska Appleseed said full payments are expected by end-of-day Friday.

“This is our best guess at the moment,” Savaiano said. “With that guidance from USDA, there's nothing stopping DHHS from putting out the benefits as quickly as possible.”

Calculations to prevent overpayments and underpayments are underway. Savaiano said the partial payments from Nebraska DHHS were helpful, but not enough for those who rely on SNAP.

“For a lot of people, the partial benefit didn't help them one bit, and so they're still struggling,” Savaiano said. “They're still having to turn to food pantries and food banks to make ends meet or get some food for themselves and their families. So, the partial benefit is a step forward, but we really need these full benefits to go out.”

Though food banks, restaurants and Nebraskan neighbors had some success filling the gaps for people in need of food assistance, Savaiano said there was no reason for SNAP benefits not to be sent out.

“The Trump administration and USDA could have sent out full benefits at any point, and they chose not to do it for some strange political gamesmanship, or whatever,” Savaiano said. “They had the authority to do so, and they did not do it. And so we wanted to just make sure that people were reaching out to their congresspeople, and they know who was causing this chaos and confusion, just because it is happening when people are really struggling and prices are rising. And food banks, food pantries--everybody is struggling to make the ends meet with this huge manufactured crisis.”

The SNAP program has a large contingency fund for use during emergency situations and government shutdowns. Those funds were caught in a legal battle as the shutdown dragged on.

“I do think the community impacts of this are going to be huge,” Savaiano said. “People not trusting the government to come through on the benefits that they rely on-- that kind of thing can be really challenging.”

For food banks, the crisis isn’t over.

Though full payments are on the way, federal work requirements and immigration status restrictions for SNAP have gone into effect, which could affect access to the program for some previous recipients.

Lincoln church ConnectioN Point runs a food bank every Tuesday and Thursday, which primarily serves immigrant and refugee families. Last week, the church gave out between 800 and 1,000 meals.

Pastor Katherine Ebling-Frazier said she doesn't expect the number of visitors to go down.

"When I'm serving primarily refugee and immigrant families, nothing changes for them," Ebling-Frazier said. "They're still all deeply affected."

While SNAP benefits may return for some, those without citizenship or green cards will have a harder time accessing food assistance from the government.

"You can just feel the anxiety," Ebling-Frazier said.

ConnectioN Point is currently working toward building a “Welcome Shelf” full of culturally diverse foods. Without the ability to shop at culturally relevant stores with an EBT card, Ebling-Frazier said immigrant and refugee families won’t be able to supplement their diets with foods they enjoy.

“That money -- families could have used it to supplement before with spices or oil or certain beans or flour or cornmeal,” Ebling-Frazier said.

Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska (CSS) provides food assistance at locations in Lincoln, Hastings, Auburn and Imperial. Executive Director Katie Patrick said more people called for help when benefits weren’t disbursed during the shutdown.

“When the EBT card gets refilled at the beginning of the month, then our food markets are kind of quieter, but that wasn't the case,” Patrick said. “Certainly, in November we saw a significant increase in the people who were needing food assistance.”

In the first week of October, CSS’s food market number received 847 calls for same-day shopping appointments. When EBT cards weren’t refilled in the first week of November, it received 1,600. From October to November, the number of calls to CSS’s front desk doubled.

Around 80 to 100 meals a day were given out at CSS’s Lincoln location last week. The Hastings location provided around 100 meals a day. Patrick said their Auburn location was especially busy.

“That location for our food pantry has seen significant increases in food market requests,” Patrick said. “In southeast Nebraska, there aren't a lot of options, whereas I feel people in Lincoln have a number of places that they can go access food, but not so much in rural communities.”

Patrick said it won’t slow down anytime soon.

“I think until there's more certainty around when the EBT cards will be refilled, when the SNAP comes through, I think we're going to continue to see the high call volume, especially with Thanksgiving approaching.”

Patrick said the community response helped meet the increased demand for food assistance. Over 200 households will receive Thanksgiving food baskets next week. Breakfast burritos and soup dinners were organized, and — thanks to community support— she said those services will continue for the near future.

“There is great movement out there for our rural communities,” Patrick said.