A suspension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is looking more certain as the federal government shutdown heads into November, leaving thousands of local families without access to groceries. On Thursday, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners amended the County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding Plan to reclassify $223,000 in relief funds to Cincinnati’s Freestore Foodbank.
“We are pulling every lever we have to keep food on the table for Hamilton County families,” said Commission President Denise Driehaus. “Freestore Foodbank has been on the front lines of hunger relief for decades. This action ensures they have immediate resources to meet the surge in need caused by the shutdown.”
Freestore Foodbank Marketing and Communications Manager Nicki Roe told CityBeat there’s currently enough to meet the need at their Liberty Street Market in Over-the-Rhine and their Bea Taylor Market in Sedamsville, as well as many off-site distributions in Greater Cincinnati.
“If you need help, we’re here for you, just come in,” Roe said. “It’s all self-declaration, so you don’t have to prove anything. You just come in and we’ll get you what you need.”
But to continue to deliver on this promise after the SNAP pause, Roe said Freestore needs monetary donations, even more than canned goods from the depths of your pantry. Thanks to direct partnerships with food distributors, Roe said every $1 donated can help provide up to three meals.
“Donations for us are the quickest way,” she said.
If you’re in a better position to donate your time rather than your cash, Roe said Freestore is going to need more volunteers ahead of the busy surge. You can sign up as an individual volunteer or as a group on their website.
“We can always use help in either one of our markets at Rosenthal or the one at Liberty Street,” she said.
But if you do have a surplus of canned goods at home, Roe recommends donating directly to a local pantry.
“Pick a pantry that’s close to them,” she said. “Then they can just put it right on their shelves and get it out.”
Freestore Foodbank has a pantry locator on their website that lists soup kitchens, pop-up and regular pantry sites.
Local pantries
One of those local food pantries is CAIN in Northside. Open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, CAIN serves 400 individual households each week. So far this year, CAIN has seen 12,795 visits by 2,408 distinct households, representing 9,899 people, according to an annual report provided by the organization.
“There’s already been a significant bump the last couple of weeks in folks coming to visit the market,” said CAIN Board President Samuel Foulkes. “We’re seeing a lot of folks that are first timers, and that’s because there are people who rely on SNAP benefits, and that keeps them above the water line. There’s a lot of concern and fear in households that wouldn’t traditionally feel like they needed to go to a food assistance nonprofit.”
Even on top of fear of losing SNAP, Foulkes said CAIN’s wait list has hit capacity for months.
“We have a virtual line, a queue that people can join, and our Monday line closes in about 60 seconds,” he said. “It’s been like that for a year.”
Like Freestore Foodbank, Foulkes said CAIN can do more with a small donation than you might think. A lot more.
“Ten dollars will buy enough food through our discount purchasing system to feed several families,” he said. “It is very effective. A low financial contribution will go a long way, because we source so much of our food from these discounted services.”
For those in need, Foulkes said there are no requirements for proof of income or address to access the CAIN market.
“The majority of the people that come to visit us are working,” he said. “At the end of the long day, if you need some groceries to help put dinner on the table that night, we want that to be as easy as possible for you to do, and not have to prove and justify why you need that.”
