Food pantries and pop-ups on the South and West sides were hit with long lines Saturday as federal funding for food assistance was frozen and families facing uncertainty over their benefits attempted to supplement meals.
Starting Saturday, nearly 2 million Illinois residents — 42 million across the country — are going without Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as the government shutdown continues, though two federal judges separately ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must pay for November’s SNAP benefits using contingency funding.
The administration has until Monday to decide whether it will partially or fully fund the food assistance program. Trump said he would provide the money but wanted more legal direction from the court, which will not happen until Monday.
It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that SNAP recipients use to buy groceries could be reloaded. That process often takes one to two weeks.
But residents like Elizabeth Ghoston can’t afford to wait.
The 30-year-old stood in line with her 5-year-old daughter at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham, one of six emergency food hubs hosted Saturday by the Greater Chicago Food Depository to help meet the increased need. She collected one of the organization’s pre-packaged boxes containing 20 pounds of groceries, including pasta, peanut butter, tuna and oatmeal. Five hundred boxes were distributed at each site.
“I don’t want to miss the food giveaway and they say, ‘Well, we decided we’re not going to feed you this month,’” said Ghoston, who lives in the neighborhood. “Whatever I’m not going to eat, I’m gonna take it to my grandmother. She’s also depending on food benefits. She has a disability, and she can’t stand for a long time. So I’ve been going to food pantries to make sure she gets her food.”
That was a common theme among Chicago residents who were not only worried about themselves, but their families and neighbors — especially those who are disabled. Even with the news of SNAP funding potentially resuming, there were still feelings of anxiety and distrust among the community.
“It’s not right at all,” said 72-year-old Sherman Redeaux, another Auburn Gresham resident who stood in line for assistance at St. Sabina. “[Politicians] are going back and forth with each other and that’s hurting us. They aren’t worried about us.”
The Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina said the government is “failing people.”
“We’ve got a legal battle while people are hungry,” said Pfleger, who reported that a record-breaking 520 people showed up to the church’s food pantry on West 79th Street over two days this week. “We’re fighting in the courts about nonsense. Feed the damn people.”
he groceries quickly ran out at St. Sabina. Those lined up outside in the chilly weather received boxes, but the Food Depository reported that about 75 of the hundreds of cars in line had to be directed to other pantries.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said the Food Depository Executive Director and CEO Kate Maehr. “We have already been doing back-breaking work because we have seen, over the course of the last 18 months, so many more people having to turn to food pantries. I can’t describe what it was like to walk down the street and see more cars than I could count and more people than I could count.”
Visitors lined up at a slower pace at Sankofa Market, another one of the Food Depository’s pop-up hubs. But the Pullman pantry’s managers said they have seen an increase in demand, with 170 people coming in during a two-hour window earlier this week.
And it’s not just SNAP recipients in need. Other Chicago-area residents, like Jazmine Blair, earn too much money for assistance but are still struggling to make ends meet.
“I work a full-time job,” said Blair, 26, who drove to the market on Saturday from her home in suburban Lansing. “I have health insurance but I still can’t afford basic stuff and it’s kind of sad. I’m surviving. I’m not living.”
About an hour after the market opened, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly arrived to greet volunteers.
“It’s absolutely cruel what’s happening now,” she said of the pause in SNAP benefits.
She said she acknowledged Americans’ frustration with the shutdown, but highlighted the Democrats’ goal to extend enhanced tax credits for people who use the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
“We are fighting for values,” she said. “We want people to be able to have health care. We don’t want people to die.”
Having access to healthy food is crucial for people like Luella Quicksey. The 64-year-old West Humboldt Park resident, who has cancer and is unable to work, was among the 90 families at Breakthrough’s Fresh Market, 3334 W. Carroll Ave. in Garfield Park, on Saturday.
“The only thing that was keeping me with food was the SNAP,” she said. “So with [the government] being shut down, now I have to start going to food pantries.”
Robert Brown, 56, of West Garfield Park, is an assistant at Fresh Market who said people have been coming in “a panic mode and uncertain about what tomorrow will hold.” The pantry asks people to come twice a month, but now they see the same people coming in once or twice a week.
Some people who were at Fresh Market then drove over to Harmony Community Cares food pantry in North Lawndale, which was holding a pop-up event Saturday, to pick up a second batch of food.
Parrish Worsham was among the 200 people who went to the drive-through event on Saturday. The 57-year-old resident of Lawndale, who is unemployed and disabled, said he has gone to multiple food pantries during the government shutdown. He said the pantries help to ensure he has enough to eat.
He’s worried things may get worse before they get better.
“We don’t have access to government funding. How can we survive? The pantries only can do so much, and basically, how long will the pantries last? Because if everybody is out of food, then sooner or later, the pantry won’t be able to supply the world with the food that you need.”
As the holidays approach, the situation makes him want to cry. “When you don’t have food for the holidays, what am I to do? Who am I to turn to?”