BOISE BENCH, Idaho — About 130,000 Idahoans rely on food stamps, and in two weeks, SNAP benefits could be suspended due to the ongoing government shutdown.
Wednesday marks 22 days since the government shutdown paused federal funding. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked the state to temporarily pause the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP.
That means in two weeks, Idahoans who depend on those food stamps could lose that financial support. Local food banks are feeling the pressure as neighbors step up to help.
WATCH: How a pause on food stamps could leave Idaho families struggling to put food on the table
"How many kids are going to go to bed without dinner that night?" said Alyssa Zimmerman, founder of 208 Mutual Food Aid. "It's also going to impact the food banks, schools, and everything else. It has a long-term effect on everyone."
Families will have to turn to other resources to put food on the table, but James Thompson with El-Ada Community Action Partnership says it won't be enough.
"And then they're just going to be losing out on a lot of the essential items that food banks don't have, things like diapers, baby formula, a lot of good produce that they can get through the SNAP program," Thompson said.
Thompson says his team is prepared for now, but they're already feeling the pressure.
"We're giving them a good amount of food, we're already hearing clients saying, 'That's it?'" Thompson said.
Zimmerman, who once relied on SNAP herself, says she knows firsthand how devastating this pause can be for families.
"When I was on it, it was a lifesaver. It was the difference between whether or not we had dinner on the table that night or had the ability to eat," Zimmerman said.
Two years ago, she started the 208 Food Mutual Aid Group on Facebook.
"For somebody that has leftover food that they're not going to eat, whether they cooked it, whether it's leftovers from a restaurant, it's the opportunity for them to give it away. It's also an option for people in the community to request help and get help when it's needed," Zimmerman said.
She said in just the last few weeks, the group has added 400 new members, bringing the total to 1,900, many of whom depend on SNAP benefits.
"It's a supplemental income. It's for the people who work 40 hours a week and you are struggling to feed their kids and keep food on their table and pay rent," Zimmerman said.
With Thanksgiving approaching, and the uncertainty of when food stamps might come in, Zimmerman says the group is stepping up even more.
“We're going to do a sponsorship, so we're going to try to pick 25 families and have people sponsor either a box that they create themselves, so a Thanksgiving box, or sponsor donations in order to create a Thanksgiving box,” Zimmerman said.
Democrats and Republican leaders at both the state and federal levels are criticizing one another over the halt in federal funding.
"There's so many people commenting, how can I help? How can I help? How can I help? That's the point when our leaders need to take a step back and say, OK, if the community is willing to come together, why can't we?" Zimmerman said.
Local Food Assistance Resources
- Calvary Chapel of Boise
- Cathedral of the Rockies Maple Grove
- El- Ada Community Action Partnership
- Salvation Army
- St. Vincent de Paul
- Vineyard Food Pantry
- Findhelpidaho.org
- 208 Food Mutual Aid
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