Food insecurity rises as food stamp benefits decrease, leading to more first-time food bank visitors in Dallas Fort Worth.
Americans who are currently food stamp recipients are in for a more challenging time as temporary pandemic enhancements to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) expire this month. Unfortunately, this means the average person will receive about $90 less in benefits per month.
The reduced SNAP benefit and rising grocery inflation will put more pressure on the average American family. According to North Texas Food Bank CEO Trisha Cunningham, the effects are already being felt in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
The North Texas Food Bank is a nonprofit that helps stock shelves at pantries that serve 13 counties. Cunningham has seen an increase in first-time guests to these pantries, causing a massive increase in the demand for meals.
The food bank used to provide approximately 7 million meals per month before 2020, and this has increased to between 11 million and 12 million meals per month.
“We knew these [extra SNAP funds] were going away, and they were going to be sunsetted. But what we didn’t know is that we were going to have the impact of inflation to deal with on top of this.” North Texas Food Bank CEO Trisha Cunningham
According to Ellen Vollinger, SNAP director at the Food Research and Action Center, "the burden is now on states, cities, and counties to do more as the federal government has shifted the problem and costs associated with it downstream."
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