Charlotte food pantries brace for surge in demand amid government shutdown

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — More than 600,000 low-income North Carolina homes are at risk of losing federal food assistance due to the ongoing government shutdown.

Food pantries in Charlotte are bracing for a surge in demand.

Polly Young visited a pantry this week that’s run by the non-profit, Care Ring, and sponsored by another non-profit, Nourish Up.

Young says she gets $70 a month through her SNAP benefits, a federal food assistance program for low-income families.

MORE | SNAP funding expiration set to hit 40 million people

She says that money usually lasts two to three weeks.

“I need a lot of vegetables, that’s what I really need, because I run out in the middle of the month,” Young said. “Bread went up [in price] so much. I really can’t buy it. I need to bake my biscuits, but I can’t.”

Tchernavia Montgomery, Care Ring’s CEO, says she feels fortunate that the pantry is able to help in one of Charlotte’s food deserts.

Since opening in March, it’s served nearly 2,000 people.

Montgomery says they’re bracing for even more people in need.

The federal government has instructed state officials not to issue November SNAP benefits because of the ongoing shutdown.

Nearly 140,000 homes in Mecklenburg County receive those benefits.

Food banks are putting out the call for donations.

“Hunger is an issue that no one should face in the United States, in the world, and we are just one small sliver of the solution, and part of that is making sure food remains accessible, however that can be made to happen,” Montgomery said.

Kenya Joseph, the president of Hearts and Hands, another Charlotte food pantry, said in a statement, “Even a short disruption can mean the difference between stability and crisis…There’s no way to instantly absorb the scale of need that’s coming if federal nutrition assistance halts…Parents are forced to make impossible choices between groceries, gas, and medicine.”

For more information on the potential disruption to SNAP benefits, click here.