The line of cars stretched for blocks down Racine Avenue, wrapping around West 78th Street and ending in front of Saint Sabina Church. There, volunteers clad in winter coats and gloves waited to distribute a pile of brown cardboard boxes containing necessities for the next few weeks — unperishable food for people who need it amid uncertainty surrounding SNAP benefits.
The food distribution event, put on by the church community and the Greater Chicago Food Depository on Saturday morning, drew over 500 people by car and foot. Some participants said they began lining up around 7 a.m., three hours before the event started to get the boxes filled with items like peanut butter, pasta, and canned fruits and vegetables. Those on foot stood in a line that wrapped around the church’s parking lot, many with grocery carts, bags and children in tow.
In recent weeks, the future of federal food aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP or food stamps, has been unpredictable for some. SNAP aid was slated to end Saturday during the second-longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, but federal judges ruled Friday that the administration of President Donald Trump must pay for the program using emergency reserve funds.
Still, it is unclear when those funds will be received by the people receiving SNAP benefits, and delays are likely for people who depend on the funding. The continued uncertainty is what sparked the depository and the church to hold the food distribution event, Greater Chicago Food Depository CEO Kate Maehr told the Tribune.
“One of the things that we know from our work is that for families facing hunger, even a minimal disruption in SNAP benefits can create extreme hardship, and it may not seem like a lot, but if you don’t have food in your house, and today is the day that you planned on going shopping for the month, you can’t wait,” Maehr said.
The depository and local food pantries have seen a steady increase in people coming for food in the last 18 months, she added, sparked by increases in the cost of living.
“Hunger is at an all-time high, even before this happened, and it’s at an all-time high because people’s wages are not keeping pace with their expenses,” Maehr said. “Food costs are up, rental costs are up. So it’s all the perfect storm, and unfortunately, families are at the center of that perfect storm.”
For Josie Hobson, a mother of three elementary-aged children, the box provides a bit of relief while the government shutdown affects her paycheck. She doesn’t know when she might see her SNAP benefits again, she said.
“On my app, they say I’m going to get it, but they say it might be delayed and I might not even get my regular amount. So that means I have to really make it count,” Hobson said.
New mother Emily Vargas pushed her daughter in a stroller down the sidewalk after receiving a box. Vargas came from Oak Lawn to receive the food, which she said is helpful following the birth of her daughter three months ago.
“I was on maternity leave and it was so hard to be able to afford everything,” Vargas said, adding that while her daughter is breastfeeding, she still needs to be healthy herself. “But, (its) food for me to be able to be OK for her.”
Others sought out the food after already seeing cuts from SNAP in their day-to-day lives. “(There’s) nothing at home to eat,” said Roberta Holland, who lined up for the distribution a little before 8 a.m. On top of that, the amount of SNAP money she gets has recently dipped significantly, she added. “I was qualified for $272. Within a week, they cut me down to $23.”
As people on foot began to receive their boxes, a woman stuck her head out of a house across the street. “Can I have one?” She called out. “Can I have a box?”
The turnout surprised Holland, who marveled as people continued to line up down an alley next to the church. She was hoping to get an extra box for her mother, but boxes were gone by 11:30 a.m., only an hour and a half after the distribution started.
“Everybody’s hungry,” she said.
More food distribution events are slated to take place throughout the month, Maehr of the food depository said. Not only at Saint Sabina, but across Cook County in areas where people are utilizing SNAP.
“We will be back here next week. We will have more boxes,” Maehr said. “We have volunteers right now at the food depository packing boxes as quickly as they can.”
