CHICAGO - When it comes to making ends meet to feed Illinois families, a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that 13 percent of the state's households are either treading water or going under. That's up from just under 9 percent, 10 years ago.

Diane Doherty, executive director, Illinois Hunger Coalition, works with many of these families every day. She said she just helped a Social Security recipient, who had worked all of her life, finish her paper work for food stamps.

"She went three days without eating," Doherty said.

Because she had been told to take her medications with food, the woman hadn't taken her pills, either. If she had continued without food assistance, the woman could have wound up in the hospital, Doherty said, adding that with numbers like these, now is not the time to cut food stamps.

Jim Weill, president, Food Research and Action Center, pointed out that it's not just older people who are struggling.

"It's really an across-the-board problem," Weill said. "It's an issue for seniors, for working-age adults without kids, and particularly for families with children."

There's a pretty good chance that everyone knows someone who is struggling, he added. Half of all Americans during their working years have had to resort to food stamps at one time or another to get themselves through the hard times, he said.

Providing a few dollars a month in food assistance prevents a lot of other problems, Doherty noted.

"Whether we're looking at children or we're looking at seniors, the impact for health care expenses or for being unable to perform well in school or for special education, in the state of Illinois we're talking about millions of dollars," Doherty warned.

Some Republicans in Congress have wanted to cut around $40 billion from food stamps over 10 years - because taxpayers cannot afford the program, they said. Others disagreed, saying that doing nothing about hungry people is much more expensive. According to the Center for American Progress, failure to prevent hunger would cost taxpayers more than $167 billion a year.

The full USDA report is available at http://1.usa.gov.





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Congress is back in session two more weeks before the August recess. Wisconsin voices worried about the future of a key hunger relief program hope lawmakers protect its funding with a deadline looming.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - or SNAP - falls under the Farm Bill, which needs to be reauthorized by the end of September.

House Republicans have blocked efforts to maintain White House authority to make non-inflation adjustments to SNAP benefits - a move President Joe Biden made in 2021 when he carried out a record increase.

Meghan Roh, program director of the group Opportunity Wisconsin, said not having that option would put recipients at a disadvantage.

"SNAP benefits help over 700,000 Wisconsinites afford food, which is one in eight people in our state," said Roh. "And so, gutting this assistance would mean that these families have to make difficult choices."

The Congressional Budget Office says removing the provision would limit the scope of future SNAP increases by $30 billion. Advocates say that amounts to a large cut.

Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, was called out for a recent committee vote to keep the option shelved.

In a social media post, he accused Democrats of lying when saying the panel was cutting benefits.

Other Republicans say their approach protects SNAP in the event a future GOP president would want to unilaterally reduce benefits.

But Suzanne Becker, executive director of the Feed My People Food Bank in Eau Claire, said politics shouldn't come into play. She argued that elevating SNAP levels as much as possible is a wise move.

"We can never replace the impact that SNAP has on our neighbors," said Becker. "Nonprofits can't do that. We make a difference every day. We strive to, but this is a critical piece in making sure that all Americans have what they need."

Becker said the debate comes as her location sees a lot of demand among working families. Her team works with income-eligible clients to sign up for SNAP benefits, noting that it's a lifeline for older populations.

Some North Dakota leaders believe healthy food is part of what is needed to help all kids achieve better outcomes and they hope low-income families sign up for new summer food assistance to keep their children on track.

State officials say eligible households have until Aug. 30 to apply for help buying groceries for kids while they are on break. North Dakota is one of many states to accept federal funding through the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program. Families receive a card with $120 on it for each eligible child, to spend on food.

Jared Slinde, communications manager for the Great Plains Food Bank, said there has always been concern about the "summer slide," and some kids also saw their learning suffer during the pandemic.

"Kids fell off track during COVID," Slinde observed. "Maybe they didn't have the best resources, which was certainly understandable. (The) Summer EBT program can help alleviate certain struggles that kids might have."

He explained staying nourished over the summer can help put them in a better position to learn once school starts and hopefully see their test scores rebound. Kids already receiving free or reduced-priced meals during the school year were automatically enrolled in Summer EBT but officials said more children may still qualify, and their parents are encouraged to sign up.

Slinde noted there are other programs, including ones offered by Great Plains Food Bank, helping families get food over the summer. He acknowledged things like transportation barriers might prevent some from getting to the sites distributing meals. The Summer EBT option could allow them to buy groceries from a neighborhood store.

"Our mission here is to end hunger together," Slinde stressed. "Any time we can have a number of different moving parts providing food assistance, we're going to be all for this."

He added they continue to see heightened demand overall for food assistance across North Dakota. So far, 32,000 North Dakota kids have been enrolled in the summer program.


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Food Bank of Northwest Indiana is facing a surge in demand for food assistance, despite the end of the pandemic.

The facility serves about 60,000 people monthly in Lake and Porter Counties.

Victor Garcia, the operation's CEO, said food banks operate differently from food pantries and soup kitchens. Food banks source food through donations, government programs and bulk purchases to supply local agencies.

"If you think of that food pantry at your local house of worship as a grocery store, and you think of a soup kitchen as a restaurant, our core business as food banks is to be the supplier to those agency partners," Garcia explained.

Garcia pointed out before the pandemic, the food bank conducted two mobile distributions weekly, serving about 4,000 people a month. During the pandemic, this spiked to six distributions weekly, serving 14,000 people.

According to the nonprofit group Feeding Indiana's Hungry, one in seven Hoosiers is food insecure. The group also reported the hunger rate for children in Indiana is even higher at one in five or worse in 38 of Indiana's 92 counties.

Garcia noted to meet demand, his facility currently maintains five distributions each week and serves about 12,000 people each month.

"The increased cost of product is creating significant impacts," Garcia stressed. "While we're looking for donated food as much as possible, we are buying more food than we ever have as a network to meet the increase in demand."

The food bank relies heavily on community donations and volunteer efforts. Garcia emphasized every dollar donated provides three meals, and volunteers are essential, with 7,200 individuals having volunteered last year alone.


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