As part of a broader effort to address food insecurity in Schenectady County, the Schenectady County Legislature is partnering with the Schenectady Foundation, a charitable trust, to provide funding for food pantries in the region.
According to Robert Carreau, executive director of the foundation, the funding will support food pantries as their supplies are significantly strained following the lapse of SNAP benefits this month.
“The county has stepped forward to provide $100,000, the foundation has also put $100,000 in, and during this holiday season that’s going to be very critical toward making sure that people are served,” he said. “When they show up to a pantry, they can ensure that they’re going to walk out with the food they need.”
The Schenectady Foundation is supplying 20 food pantries in Schenectady County, Carreau said.
“There are roughly 20 pantries throughout the county,” he said. “Some, of course, in rural areas, many in and around the city of Schenectady, and they’re all telling us the same thing — it’s harder and harder to get enough food. And when this crisis hit, people were going because they weren’t sure where their next meal was going to come from.”
The county also sponsored a drive-through food pantry last week on the campus of SUNY Schenectady, aimed at providing for residents who rely on SNAP benefits. The status of SNAP benefit disbursements remains uncertain even as congressional leaders move toward reopening the federal government.
The uncertainty around SNAP benefits adds to the existing difficulties food banks face in keeping families supplied after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut about $500 million in food shipments to food banks across the country in March.
On Nov. 5, the Schenectady County Legislature established the Schenectady County Food Insecurity Fund to dedicate $150,000 from the county’s fund balance to strengthen local food providers, $100,000 of which was awarded to the Schenectady Foundation.
County Legislature Chair Gary Hughes said about 20,000 people in Schenectady County receive SNAP benefits.
“That’s about 12,000 families,” he said. “Those are mostly working people. I think there’s a misperception out there that somehow people are not working. They are working. They’re earning money. They’re just not earning enough to afford the food they need, because the cost of food is rising so astronomically.”
Hughes said he expects food insecurity will continue to be a problem in the county even if SNAP benefits are fully restored.
“I see this food insecurity fund continuing for the foreseeable future,” he said. “I’m not optimistic that the circumstances are going to change significantly, as long as we have the administration that we have at the federal level taking the positions they’re taking.”
The Rev. Dustin Longmire, pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church and board chair of the Rotterdam Community Center, which operates two food pantries serving Capital Region residents, said the impact of the SNAP cuts and additional work requirements has been devastating.
“Twenty-two percent of all Schenectady County kids are on SNAP, right? And most folks who are on SNAP are either kids, seniors or people who are disabled. Most of the remainder are people who are working full time,” he said. “There already were SNAP work requirements before new ones got put in at the beginning of this month, at the same time these benefits lapsed.”
Longmire is also a member of the Schenectady Food Council, a group of community leaders, policymakers and residents that aims to enhance food security. The organization is working toward legislative goals along with supplying food to Schenectady residents, and hopes to raise the minimum SNAP benefit — which can be as little as $23 per month — to $100 a month using state funds.
Longmire said he hopes the lapse in SNAP benefits will shed light on the broader issue of affordability.
“There’s a member of my congregation who is amazing, really started our food pantry,” he said. “She’s on SNAP, so she’s working hard to feed her neighbors while not having access to her own SNAP benefits at the same time. I would say it’s been devastating, but I’d also say my hope in this moment is that this has shed light on a system that already wasn’t working, and can hopefully inspire our entire community and our entire country to begin addressing these broad affordability issues in a much deeper, more sustainable way.”
