Chronicle Illinois: Northern Illinois Food Bank: SNAP is back, but food insecurity ‘isn’t going away’

Officials at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva are expressing relief that the government shutdown has ended and funding for the essential SNAP food assistance program is secured for the next year or so.

But they also warn that daunting challenges remain, and that demand for their services is growing at a pace they say they will ultimately be unable to keep up with, as demand for food assistance remains “incredibly high.”

On Nov. 13 the NIFB sent out a letter to all its clients, who they call “neighbors,” informing them that funding had been restored for such programs as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC, and that people could expect to see their benefits restored within 48 hours.

NIFB officials who run the second largest food bank in the state also vowed that will “remain focused on being a source of relief and stability” in uncertain times.

“While this is welcome news, we know the impact of the shutdown will continue to ripple through our communities,” the letter noted. “Many neighbors missed critical bill payments or drained limited savings to buy food for their families. Now, they face the aftermath of those hard choices.”

The governmental reopening came a week after a well-attended roundtable discussion at the Food Bank’s headquarters in Geneva. Participants included Congressman Bill Foster and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, Julie Yurko, President & CEO, Northern Illinois Food Bank and Corinne M. Pierog, Chair, Kane County Board.

Days after that confab, Chronicle Media spoke with Jen Lamplough, the NIFB’s Chief Impact Officer, who echoed and elaborated on the Nov. 13  letter.

“Prior to the government shutdown, we were already planning for increased need and decreased federal grants resulting in a year over year gap of $3-$4M,” Lamplough said. “This has not changed.”

“People are coming to rely on us more and more,” she said. “The system is going to break eventually.”

Through the extensive system of food pantries it serves, Northern Illinois Food Bank serves people in 13 counties, covering over 7000 square miles, including DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, Lake and Winnebago counties.

But as large and wide spread as the NIFB’s infrastructure and network is, and as much money comes from government and private sources, it was meant to address emergency situations, not be a routine supplier of food needs.

The NIFB’s situation is akin to having a garden hose that works perfectly well for watering a garden or lawn. But the scale of demand for the NIFB’s assistance is more and more akin to trying to water an entire farm with that garden hose.

The food bank was not designed, Lamplough said, “to meet (everyday) needs,” but rather to cover gaps in people’s food budget and those who found themselves briefly unable to provide for themselves.

By way of example, Lamplough said, SNAP provides nine meals for every one meal the NIFB provides.

“We’re never going to be able to meet the SNAP gap,” she said. “We can’t buy our way out of this. We can’t prepare enough to fill the gap. We’re doing the best we can.”

Lamplough said there has been a “snow ball effect” with food insecurity. “It’s not just about the shutdown,” she said. “It’s about all the (permanent) cuts they’re making to SNAP.”

“This isn’t going away. There are ripples through the chain,” Lamplough said. Most people are one or two paychecks away from being in the same boat.”

Last month Gov. J.B. Pritzker allotted $20 million for emergency food relief, but with the monthly federal payment to Illinois at $350 million, that is just a tiny fraction, and the eight week lapse in federal funding has caused serious disruption in people’s lives.

Lamplough said the NIFB’s share of that $20 million was $2.3 million.

Lamplough said there was an anticipated surge in the need for food assistance even prior to the government shutdown.

“It was 600,000 neighbor visits a month,” Lamplough said. Now it’s closer to 620,000,” and guaranteed to rise further. The demand for food assistance remains “incredibly high.”

“It’s numbers we’ve never seen,” Lammplough said

People working on the ground to address food insecurity are loathe to make what could be seen as political statements, especially in the current political environment, and Lamplough acknowledged that “SNAP benefits are a polarizing topic.”

Asked what she’s comfortable saying, Lamplough replied, “Food is bi-partisan.” She did dispute the idea that federal programs are a waste of taxpayer dollars, saying, “The benefits outweigh the cost. One dollar in SNAP benefits puts $1.50 to $1.80 back into the economy.”

As for oft-cited incidents of fraud by critics of the program, she said it amounts to “about one percent of the program.”

The Illinois Department of Human Services didn’t hesitate to criticize the Trump Administration directly in a statement last Thursday, calling the crisis “entirely avoidable.”

“The lapse in SNAP funding has created unnecessary hardship for 1.8 million Illinoisans and businesses who rely on it,” the IDHS said. “This crisis was entirely avoidable — the Trump Administration had the funding to fully support SNAP but chose not to, putting tens of millions of Americans at risk of hunger.”

Food bank officials and others are monitoring current events and working to quantify things. Asked how big the gap was, Lamplough replied, “We don’t quite know yet.”

“In October, we (saw) about six percent more people (over September),” she said. “We anticipate 20 to 30 percent (more) by the end of November.”

“We’re doing risk scenarios now,” Lamplough said. “(Such as) what happens if SNAP goes away.”

In the meantime, she said, average people can help by advocating for anti-hunger policies and raising awareness about the ongoing impact of the shutdown on families, seniors, and veterans.

Lamplough said food banks and pantries need all the financial and volunteer help they can get to meet “record-high demand for food assistance.”

“We’re grateful for every dollar and every hour of volunteering,” she said.

Those in need of assistance are asked to call the SNAP Help Line at 844-600-7627.