Second Harvest Food Bank looks for community help ahead of SNAP cuts

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Two federal judges have ruled that the Trump administration must continue to fund the SNAP program in spite of the government shutdown.

From what we understand, partial SNAP funding from Louisiana will start on Nov. 1,
and it may be as long as two weeks before the full federal funding starts up again.
Until then, many recipients may look to food pantries that are supplied by Second Harvest Food Bank.

“We’re prepared as we can be. We have coordinated with our 500 partners throughout our 23 parish service area to make sure the food that we have here is being deployed as efficiently as possible, and it gets to those people in need,” John Sillars, Second Harvest Food Bank Chief Strategy Officer, said.

Sillars said that even before the government shutdown, the organization was already experiencing problems.

“Even before Oct. 1 and the government shutdown, we were experiencing a food shortage, primarily driven by demand, which was up. At the same time, we’ve been seeing USDA support go down as a result of federal policy changes which took place earlier this year,” Sillars said.

Now, Goodwill Industries of Southeast Louisiana is stepping up to help.

Throughout the month of November, the Goodwill will donate all of its register round-up funds to Second Harvest Food Bank.

“SNAP is running out for many of our clients and many of the people who shop in our stores. We felt the best way for us to impact that was to be able to assist second harvest in being able to help them feed the people who need SNAP,” President & CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southeast Louisiana Jodee Daroca said.

Sillars said he’s thankful for groups like Goodwill and that help like this will go a long way until SNAP is again fully funded.

“I mean, it’s really partners stepping up in this time of need,” Sillars said.

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