‘Food is love’: With SNAP payments in limbo, New Englanders are stepping up to help one another

Restaurants, neighbors, and community organizations are filling the gap as the federal shutdown continues and the Trump administration fights to avoid fully funding food aid

By Christopher Gavin and Katie Muchnick
Originally published in The Boston Globe, 11/7/2025

WARWICK, R.I. — Britnie Aldana-Hernandez is a mother of three and a federal government worker who has gone nearly a month without a paycheck.

The family still has income from her husband’s job, but Aldana-Hernandez, a service representative for the Veterans Benefits Administration, acknowledged this week her family is starting to feel the loss of her income amid the government shutdown.

“I have a mortgage to pay,” she said. “Bills don’t stop. Day care costs are through the roof.”

Still, she and her family transformed a small shed in the front yard of their Warwick home typically used for Aldana-Hernandez’s cottage bakery business, Graceful Delights, into a pantry stocked with canned food and other necessities.

With donations from a few neighbors, they’re offering the items for free to whoever may need them after the Trump administration stopped fully funding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Nov. 1.

Aldana-Hernandez said at least her family still has an income. Not everybody does, she said.

“One day I’ll be in need, and the community will do the same,” she said.

With SNAP benefits in limbo, restaurants, businesses, community organizations, and people around New England have stepped up, giving away food, money, and their time to make sure their neighbors in need will not go without.

Restaurants are offering free meals to SNAP recipients and federal employees. Donations to food banks have soared.

Over the past week, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank has purchased more than 800,000 pounds of food, according to CEO Melissa Cherney.

“All of that is because the community has stepped up with donations,” Cherney said Thursday, noting the food bank also attracted more than 1,000 new donors. “It’s corporations, it’s foundations, it’s individuals.”

During its annual food donation drive on Nov. 1, Scouting America’s Narragansett Council, which encompasses Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut, and Massachusetts, collected more than 292,000 pounds of food — an all-time high since the event began more than 35 years ago, according to council CEO Tim McCandless.

“All of [the scouting units] that we have heard from said the response was far better,” McCandless said. “They were seeing one and a half to two times [what they saw] last year.”

The outpour comes as the flow of SNAP benefits remained in limbo on Friday morning.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the federal government to provide recipients with their full allotments for November, after the Trump Administration said it would fund a partial amount for the month.

The administration moved to block the judge’s order on Friday.

SNAP serves 42 million of the nation’s most vulnerable people, including low-income and disabled residents. In Massachusetts, about 1.1 million people rely on SNAP benefits, or 16 percent of the state’s residents. Approximately 145,000 Rhode Islanders rely on SNAP payments to make ends meet.

“The lack of SNAP benefits and food stamps for people right now is impacting way more people than we realize,” said Kevin O’Donnell, chef and owner of Giusto in Newport, R.I., which has expanded its annual food donation program amidst the crisis.

Seoul Kitchen, a restaurant with locations in Leominster and Westford, Mass., has been offering free takeout to federal employees and SNAP recipients.

“The demand was much, much larger than we anticipated,” said owner Jae Chung. “There’s a lot of people suffering out there.”

Cecelia Lizotte, owner of Suya Joint, which has locations in Roxbury, Mass., and Providence, said the impact of the SNAP shutdown hit her after she learned some of her employees rely on the payments to get by.

“To hear that, I’m like, ‘All right, what can we do? How can we help?'” Lizotte said.

Both restaurants are now offering free meals on Monday afternoons — hours when they’re typically closed. But Lizotte said she and her staff have been eager to volunteer their time for the cause.

“They’re like, ‘Yes, please. We will be more than happy to volunteer … time off to come and package meals, spread the word,'” Lizotte said.

Rhody Roots, a restaurant in Warren, R.I., is offering 100 free meals for children a week, according to co-owner Cassie Brimmer.

“A lot of us have been on government-assisted programs in this industry,” Brimmer said. “We fully understand.”

In Boston, Little Cocoa Bean Co. at the Children’s Museum is offering free meals to income-constrained families. The first customer was a senior who ordered a sandwich, Founder and CEO Tracy Skelly said.

“There’s no world in which anyone, but especially our seniors who have paid their dues … should get to a point where they have to come into a kids cafe for a free meal,” she said.

Blacker’s Bakeshop in Newton, Mass., is hosting free bread tables on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons for people on SNAP. The table is stocked with leftover challah from the bakery and community-sponsored loaves that customers can tack on to the end of their bills, said manager Rebecca Blacker. Customers donated 60 challah loaves before the first table day Nov. 2.

“You mess with our customers, you mess with us,” Blacker said. “Food is love and food is support. To take that away from someone is unthinkable.”

At the Little Compton Community Center in Rhode Island, staff have expanded the free lunch program for seniors from three days a week to five days a week, and increased the number of meals served from 80 to 100, according to administrative assistant Chris Clark.

The center asked for donations to help support the program, Clark said.

“People just were so generous and lovely,” she said. “Kind of gives you goose bumps.”

Still, that’s not the case for all organizations working to fill the gaps. The Elisha Project is a Pawtucket-based nonprofit that organizes drive-through distribution events, offering food, furniture, and a variety of necessities for those in need.

A single event usually serves about 500 cars — or about 1,000 families — said cofounder and CEO, the Rev. George L. Ortiz, Jr.

In Pawtucket on Nov. 1, workers served 600 cars across three hours beginning at 8 a.m. The line stretched “two miles longer than it’s ever been,” and volunteers were still turning people away later that afternoon, Ortiz said.

The first person in line had waited 12 hours to secure their spot, he said. More events are planned for Nov. 22 in Pawtucket and Dec. 6 in Boston’s Copley Square.

“The increase has been the demand, not so much any funding, because everybody’s tight, and nonprofits tend to, like anybody else, compete for monies,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said he needs help from corporations and retailers.

“Instead of throwing away the stuff that gets returned, let’s build a partnership,” Ortiz said. “Let me put that into people’s hands.”

Cherney, at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, said even the vast influx of food in the past week will only last so long: The food pantries it works with are serving triple the amount of people they usually do.

President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is also slated to expand work requirements for SNAP recipients, she said. More than 13,000 people are expected to lose benefits as a result in Rhode Island alone, Cherney said.

“That’s going to hit us hard, and that’ll hit in February,” Cherney said. “And so we’re not out of the woods yet.”

Originally published in the Boston Globe.

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Providence, RI, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank (“the Food Bank” or “RI Food Bank”) serves as the central hub for food distribution across its state-wide network of 137 member agencies/food pantries, ensuring that nutritious food reaches those who need it most. Through donations, federal programs, and community partnerships, the Food Bank works to improve the quality of life for all Rhode Islanders by advancing solutions to the problem of hunger.

The RI Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Rhode Island Community Food Bank │ 200 Niantic Avenue, Providence RI 02907 │ (401) 942-6325 (main) │ rifoodbank.org

SNAP shutdown putting 143,000 Rhode Islanders at risk | Opinion

Originally published in The Providence Journal, 10/30/2025

Do you have enough food for the week? How about just today?

Too many Rhode Islanders are waking up unsure of the answer.

As of Nov. 1, nearly 143,000 Rhode Islanders – and 42 million people nationwide – have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, due to the ongoing government shutdown. To put that number in context, 143,000 people is more than the populations of Cranston, Coventry, and Charlestown – combined.

These are your friends and neighbors, family members and coworkers, many of whom work full time, to make ends meet at a moment when the cost of living is increasingly untenable. Housing prices have skyrocketed and so have food costs, medication, and utilities.

Despite these rising costs, the average SNAP benefit is only $6 per day – that’s $42 for an entire week. SNAP helps put healthy food on the table for people like me. I was a college student in North Dakota when I turned to SNAP. It got me through a tough time, fueling my ability to pursue my education and a more stable future.

I say this from experience: $6 a day isn’t much – but it’s something. Today, there is nothing. And there is no relief in sight as the federal shutdown continues.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank and the pantries we support respond to people in crisis every day, but this crisis is too big for us to tackle alone. There are 137 food pantries and meal sites in the Food Bank’s member network. Consistently, they tell us that the need is greater than ever. From Woonsocket to Westerly, more people, new faces, more families are on the brink. They also share that rising food costs are depleting their pantry shelves and negatively impacting food donations. These food pantries, deeply embedded in and trusted by our communities, were already feeling the pinch. Without SNAP, that pressure continues to build.

One question I’ve been asked over and over these past few weeks is, “how can the Food Bank fill the gap?”

We can’t.

That is the simple answer. We do not have enough funds or food to meet the $29 million loss facing Rhode Island right now. If the shutdown lingers into December, that’s another $29 million, and another month of empty cupboards.

So, what can we do? What can you do?

1. Give a financial gift to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Buying food in bulk drives down prices, giving us unmatched purchasing power. What you give to the Food Bank ultimately serves all 137 member agencies and every city and town statewide.
2. Donate food to your local food pantry. Pick up an extra bag on your grocery trip or organize a food drive at school or work. We will make sure your contributions, of any size, find their way to the people who need them most.
3. Use your voice. Spread the word about the crisis we are facing and help people in need to connect with every available resource.

Eating well on $6 a day is difficult, but things have gone from difficult to dire.

Today, 143,000 Rhode Islanders are facing significant fear and uncertainty. Let’s show them that they aren’t alone. Let’s step up, individually and collectively, and do everything we can to make sure no one goes hungry. If any state can end hunger – it’s Rhode Island. Now is our time to prove it.

Melissa Cherney is the CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. You can find resources through the Food Bank, including your local pantry, at www.RIFoodBank.org/shutdown.

Read the original op-ed in The Providence Journal here.

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Providence, RI, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank (“the Food Bank” or “RI Food Bank”) serves as the central hub for food distribution across its state-wide network of 137 member agencies/food pantries, ensuring that nutritious food reaches those who need it most. Through donations, federal programs, and community partnerships, the Food Bank works to improve the quality of life for all Rhode Islanders by advancing solutions to the problem of hunger.

The RI Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Rhode Island Community Food Bank │ 200 Niantic Avenue, Providence RI 02907 │ (401) 942-6325 (main) │ rifoodbank.org

Reed & Justice Introduce Bipartisan Local Food Security Act

U.S. Sens. Reed & Justice introduce bipartisan legislation to boost economic opportunities for farmers, fishermen, & producers while tackling food insecurity by increasing access to local, fresh, nutritious food in schools & underserved communities

By Sen. Jack Reed’s office, July 22, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC – In an effort to strengthen the nation’s food supply chain network, bolster economic opportunities for local farmers and food producers, and increase access to fresh, local nutritious food in underserved communities and schools, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Jim Justice (R-WV) teamed up to introduce the Strengthening Local Food Security Act (S. 2338).

This new bill would create a permanent grant program for state and tribal governments to procure local foods for distribution to nearby hunger relief programs and schools.

The bipartisan proposal would leverage government procurement and purchasing power to increase access to locally-sourced, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food in underserved communities and schools and in turn, help family farmers, fishermen, and local food producers grow their markets. This grant program would:

• Support local economic development by creating new access to the hunger relief market for local farmers and fishermen, creating a new, reliable stream of orders for small, beginning, and underserved farmers, ranchers, and fishers, giving these businesses the financial security to invest and further expand.
• Strengthen our domestic agriculture supply chain by investing in local food distribution. The bill would help build local businesses that support durable and resilient local food systems.
• Combat food insecurity by providing fresh, nutritious, local food to underserved communities and schools, feeding more families and helping ease the strain on the hunger relief system.

“Food prices are up and food banks are experiencing rising demand. We’ve got to feed those in need. The Strengthening Local Food Security Act makes family farmers and fishermen part of the solution, putting fresh, healthy food on the table in a cost-effective manner that strengthens the local economy too,” said Senator Jack Reed. “This bill will feed students and families and plant seeds of economic development for farmers, fishermen, and others throughout the nation’s food supply chain.”

“In West Virginia, we know the value of hard work and locally grown food. The Strengthening Local Food Security Act helps our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen get more of their local food onto more tables. It puts money back into our communities and keeps people fed. That’s a win-win all around. I look forward to working to get this done for our local producers, food banks, and schools,” Senator Jim Justice said.

The Strengthening Local Food Security Act is supported by a wide range of farmers, food hubs, coalitions, and business networks from across the country, including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Farmers Union, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and the Farm Credit Council.

In Rhode Island, the bill is supported by several leading organizations, including: the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Food Policy Council.

“At a time when we’re serving more people than ever before, this type of legislation is critical, both for Rhode Island families and for our state’s economy. The RI Community Food Bank is honored to support Senator Reed’s bill,” said Melissa Cherney, incoming CEO of the RI Community Food Bank.

“It’s always a good time to invest in Rhode Island’s farmers. This bill will increase fairness by opening valuable wholesale markets to our smaller-scale producers. Even better, it does so while supporting the state’s economy and feeding our communities,” said Nessa Richman, Network Director of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council.

“Over 40 percent of people in Rhode Island do not have enough to eat. This bill helps to address that issue by partnering with local farmers as part of the solution. Farm Fresh RI is excited by the opportunity to strengthen the agricultural supply chain, support local economic development and provide nutritious food to children and food insecure families,” said Jesse Rye, Executive Director of Farm Fresh RI.

“Farm Credit applauds Senators Reed and Justice for their leadership in introducing the Strengthening Local Food Security Act of 2025. This bill is a strategic investment in American agriculture—supporting farmers, strengthening supply chains, and helping schools and communities access locally produced food. This bill will help boost regional economies and improve food security across the country,” said Christy Seyfert, President and CEO, Farm Credit Council.

Read the original press release here.

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Providence, RI, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank (“the Food Bank” or “RI Food Bank”) serves as the central hub for food distribution across its state-wide network of 137 member agencies/food pantries, ensuring that nutritious food reaches those who need it most. Through donations, federal programs, and community partnerships, the Food Bank works to improve the quality of life for all Rhode Islanders by advancing solutions to the problem of hunger.

The RI Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Rhode Island Community Food Bank │ 200 Niantic Avenue, Providence RI 02907 │ (401) 942-6325 (main) │ rifoodbank.org

Each September during Hunger Action Month, food banks across the country raise awareness of the problem of hunger and the far-reaching impact it has on our communities. This year, the need in our state is especially dire. Each month 82,600 people visit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s member agencies – 50% more than before the pandemic. The demand for food assistance in Rhode Island is the highest it has ever been, and the Food Bank is struggling to keep up. Many shelves are empty in the Food Bank’s warehouse as food is rapidly distributed to member food pantries, which are experiencing high numbers and long lines.

In Fiscal Year 2024 (July 2023 – June 2024), the Food Bank distributed 18.3 million pounds of food, up from 16.2 million pounds the previous year. With the cost of food remaining high and the cost of housing skyrocketing, families and individuals are visiting our member pantries in droves – many for the first time.

“We’re at a point where we have to sound the alarm,” shared Andrew Schiff, Food Bank CEO. “We need the public to be aware that it’s their donations that help us keep our shelves stocked and provide a reliable source of healthy, culturally relevant food to our pantries and meal sites so that no one is turned away.”

The Food Bank distributes food through the non-profit’s state-wide network of 147 member agencies, who in turn make it available in their communities. Food is acquired, thanks to the support of generous donors, through donations, purchases, and government commodities. Currently the largest percentage of the food distributed is purchased from wholesalers and distributors to keep up with the demand for food assistance, and to ensure there is enough fresh produce and culturally relevant food items to meet the needs of diverse food pantry guests across the state.

The East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP) is among the pantries, meal sites and senior programs that receive food from the Food Bank. “It’s an absolutely unprecedented time coming off a global pandemic where we talk about being in the recovery phase. The reality is, many Rhode Islanders have not recovered,” said Rilwan K. Feyisitan, Jr., President & Chief Executive Officer at EBCAP. Feyisitan also sits on the Food Bank’s board of directors.

“One of the most alarming things we’ve seen recently is people who used to be donors coming in for services. We’re seeing immense issues with housing insecurity among our clients, which goes hand in hand with food insecurity. Housing always eats first.”

Food Bank CEO, Andrew Schiff spoke to WPRI news about the impact and how the Food Bank is helping to meet the demand.