As Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP benefits lapse across the nation due to the government shutdown now stretching into day 41, tribes and community partners in the Pacific Northwest are left taking organized action to ensure Native peoples and their surrounding communities have access to food.
On Nov. 6, a federal judge ordered SNAP benefits to be fully paid out for November. The next day, the administration announced it would be sending out 100% of the payments to states to then be administered to SNAP recipients. However, later that same day, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a request to temporarily withhold SNAP payments while the appeals court looked at the issue further.
As of Saturday, Nov. 8, Trump administration officials demanded that states “immediately undo” actions that fully fund SNAP as opposed to the 65% the administration approved on Nov. 5.
Amidst the confusion and uncertainty of food security in their communities, Native nations, local governments, community organizations, and partners have already begun making preparations for feeding their citizens.
Nonprofits provide resources
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history has left 1 million American Indian and Alaska Native people without SNAP funds, causing food insecurity throughout the Pacific Northwest, according to Oregon Rep. Tawna Sanchez, who is Shoshone-Bannock, Ute, and Carrizo and represents the 43rd Dirstrict. Sanchez is the Director of Family Services at Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA).
“People will be dependent on local food pantries, church food pantries, those types of things, and those resources are going to run thin, as many, many people throughout this state and this country are without resources,” Sanchez said.
According to Sanchez, the NAYA Family Center has a staff position dedicated to the upkeep of its food pantry. Over the holiday season, they put out hundreds of food boxes to prepare home-cooked meals. As the holiday season creeps up, Sanchez said she’s unsure how many new community members NAYA can provide food for.
“We serve a vulnerable population. We serve thousands of people every year who struggle with food insecurity,” she said. “But my expectation is that number will go up significantly if SNAP benefits are not available to this community.”
As more people utilize food banks and their donations continue to slim, Sanchez said there has been a noticeable difference in how much food NAYA is able to pick up and distribute. In previous years, NAYA was able to pick up 1,000 pounds of food a day, five days a week, from the Oregon Food Bank, which was then distributed to the community. Now, the pickups are down to a couple of times a week and range anywhere from 200 to 400 pounds of food a day.
“We’re going to have to be kicking in some resources to be able to make it happen, which is what all of us are going to have to do in some way, shape or form,” she said. “We’re going to have to figure out a way where we can support our community.”
Funding food at a local level
In the midst of the scramble to figure out where to point those who need access to food in Washington, Waters Meet Foundation, a nonprofit organization advancing health equity in the Inland Northwest, which includes the Colville Confederated Tribes, Spokane Tribe of Indians, and the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, has quickly worked to make grant funds available for community partners. Disclosure: Nika Bartoo-Smith’s father, Zeke Smith, is president of Waters Meet Foundation. Bartoo-Smith is a reporter for Underscore and took photographs for this story.
Waters Meet’s community engagement and strategy director, lacrecia hill, who has requested Underscore not capitalize her name, said this is not the first time, nor does she expect the last, that an administration is going to cause harm to her community members, especially community members of color.
“We know how to do this. It is in our bones. We know how to sustain governmental and political systems that harm us,” said hill.
According to hill, local partners and mutual aid organizers asked them for advice at the end of October. on where to go to support their community members. Waters Meet listened and came back with answers. Over the course of a week, the foundation worked with its board to deploy funds to partners and has awarded $10,000 to four organizations to provide food for local communities they support. Additionally, Second Harvest Food Bank was given $100,000 to increase their supply to the region, and 300 gift cards were purchased with $50 per card and given to local organizations to distribute. However, as needs are being unmet nationwide, Waters Meet said their request for aid is at a total of $130,000 in grant applications alone, including the $40,000 that will be distributed this week.
As the partnerships continue to grow, hill hopes that building community will lead to united fronts on issues.
“We believe in reciprocity in our relationships,” said hill. “I think that it makes us trust our community and trust that if they tell us we need to come together around an issue that we need to come together around an issue.”
“Everything we do is a band-aid”
In Spokane, the American Indian Community Center (AICC) typically provides food boxes for around 660 families each month, according to Linda Lauch, Spokane Tribe of Indians descendant, executive director of AICC. Each family can receive one food box per month.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, AICC saw double the number of families it usually does per month.
Typically, on the first Tuesday of each month, the food pantry gives out around 15 boxes, said Stephanie Sijohn, citizen of the Native Village of Eklutna, executive assistant in special projects for AICC. Last Tuesday, AICC served around 40 families.
The food pantry serves both Native and non-Native community members. On Nov. 4, families lined up, and after an hour and a half, AICC had to close its doors after running out of boxes, turning away some people who had been waiting in line since 8:30 a.m.
“Once we run out of food, we have to put a sign on the door and that’s it,” Lauch said.
“It’s hard to tell somebody no,” Sijohn added, “but sometimes we have to.”
Though AICC does work to provide a list of resources for families to other food pantries, those food pantries are also struggling.
“If we don’t have food in the food bank,” Lauch asked, “what are they going to do?”
Typically, families utilize the food pantry at AICC to supplement their SNAP benefits, with many families coming in toward the end of the month once those dollars have been spent, according to Lauch. With the lapse in SNAP benefits, more families will be reliant on food pantries and community resources for a larger portion of their food.
“When I first started working here, I relied on the food bank because I was a single mom of three, and being able to get that food once a month was a godsend, because even with working and getting maybe $200 from SNAP to last me for the month, it just wasn’t enough,” Sijohn said.
Lauch is concerned that the longer SNAP benefits aren’t fully administered, the harder it will be to meet the community food needs — especially since AICC has seen an uptick in families and has already needed to turn people away. The center is working with community organizations to secure more food and monetary donations, as well as using more of their budget to purchase food for the pantry.
“Everything we do is a band-aid. What we need is a resolution,” Lauch said.
Like many organizations scrambling to help feed their communities, with an increased need due to the lapse in SNAP benefits, AICC is calling on the bigger Spokane community to help support through food and monetary donations.
“What makes me hope is that people will realize that there are hungry people out there, and have some empathy, and start donating,” said Sophie Tonasket, Spokane Tribe of Indians, the lead food bank coordinator and former executive director for AICC.
Communities and local governments step up
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians each approved $200,000 for tribal members who are affected by the loss of SNAP.
Additionally, Gov. Tina Kotek directed the Oregon Department of Human Services to distribute $1 million in emergency assistance to the nine federally recognized Tribes of Oregon to help address the food security emergency across the state. These funds are part of a broader effort that also includes $5 million in state-directed funding to the Oregon Food Bank statewide.
“The refusal of the Trump Administration to maintain SNAP benefits during the federal shutdown is creating instability for families and communities that rely on this critical help to buy food,” said Gov. Kotek in a press release on Nov. 6.
The last week of October, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson allocated $2.2 million per week to provide support to Washington’s food banks until SNAP benefits are reinstated. According to a press release, nearly 1 million Washingtonians rely on the SNAP program.
As the government shutdown continues, Rep. Sanchez said tactics like not administering SNAP benefits during the shutdown are a human rights issue.
“It’s not just a violation of trust responsibility, it’s a violation of human rights,” Rep. Sanchez said. “Food is a human right. It’s not dismissive.”
Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore + ICT Reporter, contributed reporting on the American Indian Community Center in Spokane, WA.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story has an incorrect number for the families served per month at the American Indian Community Center.
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