Pennsylvania Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients as a percentage of population, by county, as of October 28, 2025. (Emily Previti/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
Some state lawmakers want to award grants to food assistance programs to offset the potential loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) support.
The Pennsylvania Food Assistance and Hunger Assistance Program would redirect $50 million of Commonwealth Rainy Day Fund interest to food banks and $10 million to Meals on Wheels Pennsylvania, plus $2 million to the state Department of Agriculture.
That’s a fraction of the more than $360 million in monthly SNAP benefits that two million Pennsylvanians receive and will have to go without since November because of the federal government shutdown. That’s more than 15 percent of the Commonwealth’s population, ninth among the states.
In other words: the number of people losing food stamps is equal to the combined population of the Commonwealth’s two largest cities: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
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“We must take care of our neighbors in this desperate time,” said State Senator Art Haywood (D-Montgomery/Philadelphia). “Hunger does not discriminate based on race, gender, zip code or any other way we would like to identify it. We must accept that on November 1, millions of Pennsylvanians will not have the food assistance they rely on.”
“The Perfect Storm”
Haywood joined several other Senate Democrats to announce the proposal Tuesday afternoon, along with representatives from Feeding Pennsylvania and one of its nine member organizations, the Central Food Bank of Pennsylvania.
Only the commonwealth is at risk of losing SNAP without a state budget, which is almost four months overdue.
Given this, “Pennsylvanians will be most impacted by cuts to SNAP,” said state Sen. Lindsey Williams (R-Allegheny).
Food assistance programs – including programs for seniors, whose food assistance components are typically funded through lottery funds and are on hold due to budget impasses – have gone without state funding. This is in addition to federal funds withheld during the federal government shutdown, which is now approaching a month. Not to mention that since last year, nearly $20 million in losses have been the result of cuts to federal programs, according to Julie Bancroft, executive director of Feeding Pennsylvania.
The SNAP program is nine times larger than all food banks combined in the amount of food we collectively distribute. So asking any nonprofit social service organization to fill such a enormous gap is simply completely unrealistic.
– George Matysik, executive director of the Share Food program in Philadelphia
Providers were already experiencing unprecedented demand even before the dual budget lockdowns impacted not only their funding but also much of the rest of the social safety net. They have led to furloughs, layoffs and reductions in hours and wages for workers on the payroll in federal and district governments, as well as contractors.
All as fresh SNAP rules take effect.
“We are facing a perfect storm,” Bancroft said.
Pennsylvania is one of 22 states and Washington are suing the federal government over lack of SNAP funding after the United States Department of Agriculture rejected a previous plan to employ $6 billion in emergency funds to continue SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
“Eight of our nine food banks are using cash reserves to try to put money aside for pantries to keep shelves stocked,” Bancroft said. “These backup resources are not unlimited and will run out quickly if we do not mobilize financing.”
Some other countries have already admitted tens of millions of dollars for relief and food distribution networks. According to the state, Virginia has committed to continuing to pay SNAP benefits in full using state funds Newsweek reports..
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Asked whether the state Senate GOP would support the proposal, Majority Leader Joe Pittman said through a spokesman: “Art Haywood needs to tell Chuck Schumer to listen to John Fetterman.”
At the last audit, food aid was not on the list of uses for applicants to the state Department of Treasury’s grant program, according to spokesman Steven Chizmar.
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Ordered by the state Department of Human Services people losing benefits to food banks. However, the Commonwealth Food Aid Network cannot fill this void, even if funded in the usual way.
“SNAP is nine times larger than all food banks combined in the amount of food we collectively distribute,” said George Matysik, executive director of Share Food in Philadelphia. “So asking any social service nonprofit to fill a gap this big is just completely unrealistic. We’re all going to do what we can. But it’s going to be a huge challenge for each of us to keep up with the pace of demand.”
Last week, Share Food purchased half a million dollars worth of additional food in preparation for SNAP ending on Nov. 1, Matysik said.
He compared the current scenario with the demand flooding food banks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture then promptly sent additional funds to Share Food and similar programs.
“The idea that reinforcements will come, as they did in 2020, and [the recession] in 2008, there are none,” Matysik said. “It’s as if reinforcements have turned against us. Our own government is doing this to its own citizens. That’s the depressing part of it all.”
Pennsylvanians began to step in.
Following the news that SNAP benefits are ending In the absence of federal lawmakers, donations to Feeding Pennsylvania are up 2,000% this month compared to last October, according to spokeswoman Lauren Duff.
What’s more, at least one food bank in its structure has indicated a boost, Duff added WellSpan Health donation of $275,000 (equivalent to one million meals) to the Central Food Bank of Pennsylvania last week.
Meanwhile, nonprofit foundations in Chester County are teaming up to raise $100,000 for the county, according to Kevin Ressler, president and CEO of The Alliance for Health Equity. The Coatesville-based alliance works with the Chester County United Way and the Chester County Community Foundation.
Ressler noted, albeit reassuringly, that “we cannot get out of this situation through private philanthropy.”
“The government is providing tremendous support to this country,” Ressler said. “Foundations will not replace the loss of government support for our hard-working neighbors – most of them have jobs [or] are children or elderly people who can’t just go out and get a job.”
Duff advised doing this Feeding the Pennsylvania website supporting statewide or local efforts through donations or identifying local volunteer opportunities.
“It’s inhumane”
The SNAP situation reflects the recent funding crisis for related entities Program for women, babies and children which provides cash for groceries and other support to fresh and expecting mothers and their babies.
But there are fundamental differences.
To start with, Pennsylvania’s WIC program receives $278 million a year in federal funds compared to $4.4 billion for SNAP (i.e., more for SNAP in one month than for WIC in an entire year). About two million people receive benefits through SNAP, compared with about 186,000 through WIC.
WIC benefits are also loaded for three months at a time, giving beneficiaries some buffer time if funding stops. This is not happening with SNAP – which adds urgency to the upcoming freeze.
The federal government’s recent approach has also been different. The U.S. Department of Agriculture remained relatively peaceful as WIC money ran out and made short-term financing available at the last minute.
However, USDA officials ordered state DHS officials to pause fresh enrollments and disbursements three weeks before funds were likely to run out, in letter sent on October 10 – a move that “shocked” Tricia Fonzi, president and CEO of FHCCP.
Northampton County Commissioner Lori Vargo Heffner questioned the motivation behind the directive and condemned it.
“Even by threatening these people, we traumatize them,” she said. “It’s inhumane.”
Matysik agreed.
“We entrust our federal government to help the working class, not to use us as a negotiating chip,” Matysik said. “If you want to talk about why people don’t trust the government, this is the reason. This puts food on the table for 42 million Americans. And the political class has a very [few] hesitant to knock it off the dining room table as part of some kind of political negotiation.”
