Government cuts SNAP benefits, local organizations step up to help
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
County residents in need of food assistance flock each Monday afternoon to Leelanau Christian Neighbors (LCN) near the village of Lake Leelanau, where the food pantry shelves are stocked with fresh vegetables, from onions to butternut squash, and canned goods that cover all the food groups.
Some lined up early on Monday, Nov. 3, two days after the federal government froze funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—more commonly known as food stamps—which approximately 42 million Americans rely on for food each month. Nevertheless, the 152 families served on the first Monday of the month equaled the average number who visit the food pantry on a given week, said LCN executive director Mary Stanton. The floodgates weren’t open yet.
“Now this is the month they’ll get way behind,” Stanton predicted. “I’m anticipating December and January will be tough—especially as utilities kick in. It was kind of life as normal at LCN. But we’ve had a great outpouring of the community anticipating that it will get bad.”
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” championed this summer by Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress already severely restricted SNAP future eligibility and benefits. Then, current funding for the program was put on life support when the government shut down on Oct. 1. The standoff happened when Democrats, who are in the minority, refused to back the Republicans’ proposed budget, which as it currently stands will see healthcare costs skyrocket for working Americans in 2026.
Current SNAP funding expired on Nov. 1 as the government shutdown stretches into its second month. On the afternoon of Nov. 3, The White House announced that it would only partially fund the program, which is a lifeline for one in eight Americans, including 1.4 million Michigan households.
Here in Leelanau, where the cost of living, buying homes and groceries has skyrocketed, as many as 44 percent of households are considered Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE). For the working class and the working poor, access to government-funded food stamps can make the difference between paying rent, covering medical bills, or going hungry.
“I worry for our neighbors. If you’re getting SNAP benefits, you’re already down,” Stanton said. “I can’t imagine how demoralizing this is for some people. We want the neighbors to know we’re there with a smile and open arms to help them.”
At a perilous moment for working people, Leelanau Christian Neighbors are stepping up, along with other community organizations including Food Rescue and the Northwest Food Coalition, 5 Loaves 2 Fish, the Empire Area Food Pantry, Folded Leaf, Lively NeighborFood Market, Art’s Tavern and the Empire Area Community Center—all of which have pledged additional support.
“We try to be ready for people right now,” Stanton told the Sun last week, as SNAP’s funding freeze neared. “We have two walk-in freezers, chuck full of quality protein for our neighbors. If we have to give it all out, we’ll give it all out. We hope it will last, but we’ll figure out what to do next.
“We want to be prepared to meet the needs of our neighbors.”
The number of people who visit Leelanau Christian Neighbors’ food pantry fluctuates each week, depending on what time in the month SNAP benefits are disbursed, and also on the growing season. In mid-October LCN welcomed nearly 200 families, including migrant farmworkers who have since followed the crops and headed south. The last Monday in October LCN saw 144 families. On that day, the Northport Lions Club arrived with a pop-up tent and grill and cooked hot dogs outside the food pantry.
“It added a little bright spot in a gloomy world for some,” said Stanton. “The smiles were pretty cool. We’re always trying to make sure our neighbors feel welcome.”
Food isn’t the only acute need that Stanton and her staff are confronting.
“We’re seeing a large increase in our financial assistance program,” she said. “The need there is really tough, along with the need for food.”
This time of year LCN typically receives three-four neighbors who need financial aid. During successive weeks in October the numbers were 12 and 11.
“We’re talking about needs in the high hundreds if not thousands,” said Stanton. “No longer are people saying, ‘I can’t make my $800 rent’. Now they’re saying, ‘I can’t make my $1,500 a month rent. I haven’t been able to do that for three months, and I’m going to be evicted.’”
Cutting off food stamps puts people who struggle to pay their rent in an even greater bind.
Freezing SNAP benefits also causes an economic trickle-down effect because it reduces the number of people shopping at grocery stores and farmers markets.
As of September, 743 people in Leelanau County received food assistance. The average recipient got a little over $160 per month, totaling $119,093 that wouldn’t be spent in local stores if SNAP benefits weren’t dispersed. Some of that goes to national chain stores like Walmart and Sam’s Club, but a lot also chimes through cash registers of local stores including Hansen’s in Suttons Bay and Tom’s in Greilickville.
Grocery stores and farmers, in turn, support food banks and meal sites for those who need a helping hand. Organizations like Food Rescue, which is run by Maple City resident Taylor Moore, visits those stores and rescues, repacks and distributes 2.2 million pounds of food each year across a five-county region that includes Leelanau—food that might otherwise end in a landfill.
“The food system is complex. It touches all of our lives,” Moore recently told Christal Frost Anderson on her podcast Currently. “This program ensures that children have the food they need, the most vulnerable in our community have the food they need.
“If programs like SNAP go away, it ultimately means that less food will be available at food pantries.”
Pantries, nonprofits, businesses step up
When the alarms sounded that SNAP benefits would end, partially or entirely, in November, several community players stepped up to help.
The Empire Area Food Pantry, which opens on Tuesday afternoons from 4:30-5:30 pm at the Glen Lake Community Church in Burdickville, has seen a surge in numbers recently. On the last Tuesday in October, the pantry served 32 families that included 80 people, said Kaye Evans. Typically the pantry serves 20 families.
“Our neighbors are concerned with the pause in SNAP benefits caused by the government shutdown,” said Evans. “Leelanau County is already a very expensive place to purchase groceries.”
5 Loaves 2 Fish has recently upped its game, too. The outreach group which provides meals four nights a week at locations throughout Benzie, Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties—and which receives 75 percent of its food from Food Rescue—has begun sending meals to the Leelanau Children’s Center and to Leelanau Montessori to lift the burden off parents.
“I can’t imagine our numbers won’t go up,” said 5 Loaves co-founder Michelle White. “I think all the food pantries will be overwhelmed.
“Two months ago our community meals drew between 60-80 people. Now they are consistently over 100. More and more families are starting to come, which I’m guessing is in preparation for tough times ahead.”
White shared the story of a single mom who frequently visits for a meal.
“We had a big bowl of fruit left over, and we gave it to her, along with a few other things we packed up. She started to cry and gave me a hug. Her little boy hugged me, too.
“She is one of many who are working their butts off but just can’t stay afloat.”
The Empire Area Community Center (EACC)—known for its monthly “Empire Area Emergency Fund” concerts—announced on Nov. 2 that it was expanding the organization’s community outreach programs to include a “Basic Needs Initiative” to support people impacted both by the non-funding of SNAP and also the many federal employees that have been furloughed from their jobs with the National park Service. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s headquarters is located in Empire. Funds raised by EACC will be distributed to the Empire Area Food Pantry, the Empire Paper Pantry, and the Folded Leaf Pantry.
In Cedar, the Folded Leaf bookstore has added a free, no-questions-asked Community Shelf for those experiencing food insecurity, or are in need of essentials like tampons, diapers, soap or shampoo. The Folded Leaf launched an “All-Call to Action for our Northern MI Neighbors” GoFundMe campaign to support people facing hunger. The bookstore accepts non-perishable donations including canned tuna or chicken, peanut butter, canned vegetables, and whole grain pasta and rice.
“Our community is facing a critical moment,” writes Folded Leaf owner Rachel Zemanek. “As the holiday season approaches—a time meant for warmth and gathering—many of our neighbors in Northwest Michigan are grappling with a severe increase in food insecurity.
Zemanek cites sobering statistics that paint a clear picture of the urgent need in our community: one in seven people in West and Northwest Michigan currently face food insecurity; the demand at local food pantries has increased by up to 70% in the last four years, and lines may grow even longer with the lapse in benefits; child food insecurity rates saw a massive 52.5% increase last year, putting the health and development of our youngest neighbors at risk.
“This is more than charity; it’s community resilience,” she writes. “By working together, we can ensure that a momentary lapse in federal support does not translate into hunger for our friends and neighbors during the most difficult time of the year.”
The Northwest Food Coalition, a 70-member coalition of food pantries, emergency meal sites and baby pantries in the six-county area, has also launched a fundraising campaign to prepare for an increase in demand for food assistance.
“Any interruption to SNAP will place significant strain on families and on food pantries and meal programs across Northwest Michigan,” the organization states. “With so many households depending on SNAP, we anticipate even a short disruption will push more families into crisis. The pantries and meal sites in Northwest Michigan will not be able to make up for the loss in SNAP; however, the Coalition and its partners are doing their best to increase food supply and monetary support to the pantries and meal sites in our region.”
The Lively NeighborFood Market on M-72, east of Empire, has announced a “SNAP GAP for Neighbors program” to offer SNAP Bridge card holders a weekly balance of $75 for families, or $50 for individuals to purchase food from its year-round farmer’s market including prepared takeout food, or staple products like milk, bread, eggs, butter, fruits and vegetables, meats, frozen foods and canned goods.
“Each week, as long as the SNAP uncertainty remains, we will replenish each SNAP neighbor’s account (funds will not roll over),” write Jim and Kelly Lively. “When SNAP certainty returns, we will donate the remaining funds to a pantry or holiday boxes, depending on timing and funds.”
The Lively NeighborFood Market’s SNAP GAP initiative is made possible by a crowdfunded SNAP Gap for Neighbors Fund.
“We are so thankful for all of our neighbors who support our business year-round, and who also come together in times of need,” write the Livelys.
Meanwhile, the trailer in front of Art’s Tavern in downtown Glen Arbor is open for non-perishable donations through Thanksgiving. Proceeds raised from Art’s annual pig roast were donated to the Empire Area Food Bank.
With Thanksgiving approaching, Leelanau Christian Neighbors plans to give out turkey meals to those in need. In the run-up to Christmas, LCN will distribute toys for tots on Dec. 16. Volunteers are needed Dec. 14-15 at the VFW Hall in Lake Leelanau.
“LCN has been here since 1987. People are relying on us,” said Mary Stanton. “Support organizations that are working with partners, who are defining the need and the best way to support the need.”
