Hundreds of residents in need of access to food visited Cadwalader Park Monday as uncertainty continued regarding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Mercer Street Friends Food Bank welcomed all during an emergency two-hour food distribution outreach established to support families amid the ongoing pause in SNAP benefits. The 12 noon to 2 p.m. event required a SNAP EBT card verification although the collaboration between Mercer Street Friends and City of Trenton turned no food seekers away.
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Food produced smiles on faces Monday during Mercer Street Friends emergency food outreach in Trenton’s Cadwalader Park.
(L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)
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Food produced smiles on faces Monday during Mercer Street Friends emergency food outreach in Trenton’s Cadwalader Park.
(L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)
While a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled the United States must continue to fund the program that supports approximately 42 million Americans, most clients associated with the food assistance outreach have no money remaining on SNAP EBT cards.
The Trump administration committed to partially funding SNAP with a $4.65 billion payment. A top USDA official Monday told a federal judge that infusion of billions necessary for emergency funding could take “a few weeks to up to several months.”
Payments into the SNAP program discontinued on Nov. 1 sending people scrambling to find food assistance. Mercer Street Friends responded with an offering of food stuffs for 750 households.
Plus, the Trump administration said it was $4,billion short of the $8 billion needed to fund SNAP for the month of November.
“This is an emergency, crisis- initiated distribution, something we didn’t plan until realizing that SNAP benefits were going to run out for many local residents,” Bernie Flynn, chief executuve officer of Mercer Street Friends, said. Flynn explained his organization stepped up operations to assure neighbors had access to nutritious and essential resources.
“We put this together a week ago but even two weeks back there were conversations about the potential problems that could occur with the discontinuation of SNAP benefits. This is an unprecedented event.”
Mercer Street Friends Food Bank Director James “Butter” Allen said his organization delivered enough food for 750 clients. Distributed items included one bag of non-perishable foodstuffs, a 20- pound box of fresh vegetables, and one dozen eggs.
“We distributed food items to 125 clients in just 25 minutes,” Allen said. Mercer Street Friends representatives included Ryan Sherberg, a senior manager of inventory and compliance, and Senior Warehouse Manager Kristin Gellura.
Sarah Adelman, commissioner of New Jersey Department of an Services, attended and assisted with food distribution.
“Across New Jersey there are over 800,000 folks who were not able to receive their SNAP benefits at the beginning of November as they usually would. About half of them are children, another third are persons with disabilities and 20-percent are adults over the age of 60,” Adelman explained.
The Human Services commissioner said New Jersey faces an additional challenge this week with many schools closed for Election Day and Veterans Day.
Adelman said, “A main focus this week is to connect with households that have no SNAP benefits at home and with schools closed will not have access to breakfast and lunch. We have to make sure that they are not hungry.”
