Alight handing out grocery gift cards from last week’s fundraiser for SNAP recipients

Community helping SNAP recipientsCommunity helping SNAP recipients

While questions continue on the funding of food stamp payments, the Minneapolis community is stepping up to help.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS was at Alight in northeast Minneapolis on Friday as the organization was calling on Minnesotans to donate grocery gift cards to help residents losing SNAP.

RELATED: Trump administration says SNAP will be partially funded in November

Alight said it raised over $10,000 on Friday, and on Monday morning, one of the first gift cards was given and used.

Loreen, a Syrian refugee who has been in Minnesota for two years, is a widow and single mother. She says that without organizations like Alight giving her a grocery gift card, she isn’t sure how she would put food on the table for herself and her 9-year-old daughter.

She added that she’s uneasy about the future of SNAP if the government shutdown doesn’t end soon— a sentiment shared by Alight, which vowed to continue helping those in need.

“Like many Minnesotans, I would love to see snap be turned on as soon as possible,” said Jane Stockman of Alight. “We are hopeful for that, and I think our organization, we’re not going to stop. It’s do the doable. We are already seeing that across Minnesota — how all of us are choosing to respond, to help our neighbors.”
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