As SNAP funding cuts near, Maine steps in to cover food assistance

File PHOTO / JIM NEUGER Gov. Janet Mills

Write a Comment

With federal funding for the Supplemental Food Assistance Program, known as SNAP, set to expire Nov. 1 unless Congress intervenes, Gov. Janet Mills pledged $1.25 million in state and philanthropic funding to aid anti-hunger programs in Maine.

U.S. Department of Agriculture informed states that SNAP benefits would not be distributed in November due to the federal government shutdown.

The majority of funding being coordinated by the Mills administration — $1 million — will come from the governor's contingency account. Portland-based John T. Gorman Foundation is donating $250,000 to increase food supplies for an estimated 170,000 households that rely on SNAP benefits.

According to the governor’s office, nearly 12.5% of Maine’s population relies on SNAP benefits, with several counties — Androscoggin, Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis and Somerset — approaching or surpassing 20% of their populations using the funding.

Nearly 75% of SNAP households in Maine include at least one working adult, more than half include a person with a disability, 43% include an older adult and over one-third of households include children — totaling 55,000 children across the state.

Funding will go to Auburn-based Good Shepherd Food Bank and the state's network of Area Agencies on Aging, to support the state's network of 600 food pantries and other anti-hunger programs and organizations.

File photo

Aaron Frey

In addition, the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry will commit another $10,000 for the Hunters for the Hungry program, which pays for processing donated bear, deer and moose meat, distributed through Good Shepherd.

A number of Maine restaurants are offering to provide free food to neighbors who rely on SNAP, including American Flatbread in Rockport, Nutty Nettie's in Auburn, Provender in Ellsworth and Taj in South Portland.

Earlier this week, Attorney General Aaron Frey announced that Maine had joined a 25-state lawsuit to compel the USDA to release contingency funds, which have been authorized by Congress, to cover SNAP benefits for the nearly 42 million Americans who use the program.

The USDA has said it is legally prohibited from using SNAP contingency dollars to cover the funding gap for November.

Frey said in a statement, “USDA has funded other programs with emergency funds during this shutdown, but has refused to fund SNAP, leaving millions of Americans without the assistance they need to buy food. It is clear the federal government is making a deliberate, illegal and inhumane choice not to fund the crucial SNAP program.”