GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Here in my neighborhood of Grand Rapids, the Community Food Club, a food bank here on Division Avenue, is in constant demand. It serves around 9,000 people each month. Now with SNAP benefits set to pause in just days, organizers fear the demand will dramatically go up.
An endless stream of my neighbors came into the Community Food Club to shop on Monday morning.
"I use the Community Food Club to help my family bridge a gap between the food that we need monthly," Perla Douglas said.
Douglas, a mom of two, relies on food assistance like her Community Food Club and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to get the food she needs to feed her family.
As a member of the Community Food Club, members pay $12-$18 for a 30-day membership. With that, they have access to a certain number of points that best meet their family's needs. Healthier foods cost fewer points than sweeter foods.
"I don't do weekly grocery shopping anymore because I can't afford to. I do biweekly. It's about 150, but sometimes I have to spend less," Douglas said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is warning, starting in November, "the well has run dry" for SNAP benefits.
"We have five days to figure this out," 3rd Congressional District Congresswoman Hillary Scholten said.
Congresswoman Hillary Scholten was in my neighborhood moments before the Community Food Club's opening.
"The ongoing government shutdown, now entering its fifth week, has created real and immediate uncertainty for families who rely on SNAP benefits," Scholten said.
Speaker Mike Johnson has kept lawmakers out of the House since Sept. 19. He and Republican colleagues have proposed stopgap funding.
"I was just there last week, and we were trying to bring attention to the fact that we needed to reopen the government. You know, this is absurd," Scholten said.
Democrat lawmakers' big sticking point is keeping Affordable Care Act tax credits in the budget.
"So would you say, if you don't have that, you're not voting on it?" I asked.
"I would say we can reopen the government when Republicans are willing to make health care affordable for the American people, and there's a number of options on the table that we can talk about to get there, including one that is supported by 78% of the American people," Scholten said.
Republicans, including 4th Congressional District Congressman Bill Huizenga, say the House's clean extension would reopen the government and continue snap benefits.
“It is shameful that Michigan’s Senators are prioritizing politics over paying our troops, over helping low-income Michiganders put food on the table, and over making sure that air-travel is safe and reliable,” Huizenga said in a statement last week.
As that fight continues, 1.4 million Michiganders are set to lose SNAP benefits in November.
"It's kind of like scary and stuff, because we don't know what's going to happen next month," Michelle Davis said.
"This comes I might have to give up my truck, because if it's truck payment, which comes out about what I would make on that, and then there's a catch 22 too, how are we going to get to work, or anything we have to do after that, but you can't eat the truck," Pat Burton said.
We're a few weeks away from Thanksgiving. That also happens to be the busiest week of the year here at the Community Food Club.
