By Hannah Harris

The College Park Community Food Bank and the University of Maryland Campus Pantry saw an increase in need since the suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in early November following the government shutdown, according to employees. 

The government shut down on Oct. 1 after Democrats and Republicans couldn’t come to an agreement on government funding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told state agencies to halt November SNAP benefits in an Oct. 10 letter due to lack of funding, according to NPR. 

SNAP provides low-income families with benefits to alleviate their grocery budgets so they may afford nutritious food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Funding cuts resulting from the shutdown led to the suspension of these benefits for over 40 million Americans, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

The government shutdown ended on Nov. 12 after 43 days—the longest shutdown in U.S. history, according to NPR.

SNAP and Food Insecurity

The suspension of SNAP has influenced food banks in College Park. Bridget Duffy, a junior agriculture and resource economics major and a UMD Campus Pantry student supervisor, said that more students and university staff members have utilized its resources since early November. 

“We’ve had to direct them to other resources since we are not able to be a resource for them,” Duffy said. 

Duffy said the campus pantry, which supplies food and pantry staples to the campus community, has received an overwhelming amount of phone calls and emails from College Park community members asking for assistance. 

The College Park Community Food Bank has also seen a spike in people in need, according to Lisa Bartusek, president of the College Park Community Food Bank. The average number of households supported by the food bank increased to over 450 households over the past few weeks. 

“We saw an increase of about 30 households the first week … and then 60 above our average the second week,” Bartusek said.

Over 40 million Americans are at an increased risk of food insecurity due to the suspension of SNAP benefits, according to the American Public Health Association. Caroline Boules, a senior lecturer in environmental science and policy at the University of Maryland, said that food insecurity is a threat to physical health. 

“If people are under food insecurity for a long period of time, they can get more chronic health conditions like diabetes or heart disease or blood pressure issues … because they’re not eating healthy food, or not eating enough food, or not getting all the nutrients and micronutrients that they need,” Boules said.

To support the campus community, UMD has launched a donation drive to supply the campus pantry with much-needed resources. Katie Davidovich, director of conferences and visitor services at the University of Maryland, described the university’s efforts to combat the suspension of SNAP benefits. 

“This is really a grassroots effort for Student Affairs to help generate donations for the Campus Pantry, specifically at the request of the president’s office,” Davidovich explained. “Because with SNAP benefits being cut a few weeks ago, and the challenges some of our community members were facing, the shelves were pretty empty.”

The food drive collected over 1,000 pounds of food, Davidovich said. 

Support

Community members can pick up food and other household supplies from the College Park Community Food Bank every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at 9704 Rhode Island Ave, according to the food bank’s website. No paperwork is required, and pickups are available for both pedestrians and drivers. 

The UMD Campus Pantry, located on the ground floor of the South Campus Dining Hall at 7093 Preinkert Drive, operates similarly to a grocery store, Duffy said. The pantry is open Monday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for students and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for staff and faculty. From Tuesday to Friday, it’s open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the website.

“Anyone is welcome to take whatever they need … we just swipe their ID just to make sure that they are still a current University of Maryland student or staff,” Duffy said.

Davidovich emphasized the importance of supporting your local community during difficult times.

“I think it’s really important to find ways to make an impact in your own neighborhoods,” she said. “And for us, that’s the UMD community.”

Featured Image: The exterior of the UMD campus pantry on Nov. 19. Photo by Miller Rogers-Tetrick.