Breen Goodwin, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Food Bank, speaks at a meeting of the Columbia Gorge Food Security Coalition, where representatives from several organizations gathered to address uncertainty about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments.
Breen Goodwin, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Food Bank, speaks at a meeting of the Columbia Gorge Food Security Coalition, where representatives from several organizations gathered to address uncertainty about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments.
This article was updated after press deadline to include additional comments from the Trump administration on November SNAP benefits. Additionally, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced that all SNAP recipients in the state, regardless of their pay schedule, will receive their full benefits on Nov. 7. Another judge has also ordered the Trump administration to release full benefits to all states on the same day.
THE GORGE — Members of local nonprofits, health organizations, counties and other entities assembled last Thursday to pool resources and rapidly develop a mutual aid network, expecting need to surge as people receive their November benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) later than expected.
Nearly 1.7 million people in Oregon and Washington depend on SNAP, which is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), to afford groceries. Funding lapsed on Nov. 1 because of the ongoing government shutdown, and while contingency dollars do exist, the Trump administration and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have argued those pots aren’t “legally available.”
Two judges disagreed with that interpretation hours prior to the cutoff. The administration announced it will fund SNAP halfway just before press deadline on Monday, which remains the administration's position despite contradictory remarks from President Trump on Tuesday.
Doling out roughly $8 billion worth of monthly benefits across the country typically takes weeks, however, and USDA had not begun making those preparations in October, so the Columbia Gorge Food Security Coalition approached their meeting with urgency.
“This is nothing short of a disaster,” said Breen Goodwin, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Food Bank. “For every meal we are able to provide to the food bank and food pantry system, SNAP is able to provide nine. SNAP is one of the most successful social service programs in the country that we’ve ever had.”
The coalition serves Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Klickitat and Skamania counties, and depending on the area, between 10-25% of households receive SNAP benefits. Over the past decade, food insecurity has worsened in the Mid-Columbia. Out of 1,349 households that responded to a survey from the coalition (accessible at beav.es/GorgeFoodSurvey), 42% reported they either often or sometimes ran out of food in the past year — which is double the figure from 2015.
Available resources
“If we only use the food system that we have in place, we will not be moving fast enough,” said Goodwin. “What does it look like to develop mutual aid options that folks can start acting on and actually supporting their neighbors?”
Goodwin emphasized that food banks and pantries, which are intended to be the last line of defense in hunger relief efforts, cannot replace SNAP. Even though the governors of Oregon and Washington have allocated millions to bolster their respective systems, with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek also declaring a temporary emergency, pantries simply don’t have the capacity to respond at scale.
For instance, FISH Board Chair Marianne Durkan reported that the Hood River site saw a record number of visitors a day prior to the meeting. It’s not a food issue, it’s a resource issue, Goodwin said.
Beyond getting food to SNAP recipients, the group brainstormed ways to lessen their financial burden, hoping they could spend the saved money at grocery stores instead. Some suggestions included transit fee waivers, support for paying utility bills and developing a gift card system to provide direct monetary assistance.
Through its health-related social needs (HRSN) program, coordinated care organizations like PacificSource can cover up to six months of housing, utilities and groceries for eligible people on Medicaid, particularly those with a high-risk medical condition who are going through a transition like houselessness. Washington has HRSN services, too.
“We’re not going to solve all of the problems today,” said Goodwin. “But, in this space, to see this group of people here today trying to learn, trying to engage and trying to figure out how to move forward gives me hope.”
For those not struggling with food insecurity, Goodwin encouraged folks to look out for their neighbors, pay it forward at restaurants and invest in the food pantry system, either by donating needed supplies, giving your time or with direct financial support.
Prior cuts impact response
The Trump administration’s handling of SNAP payments is just the latest in a string of policy decisions that have put ever more strain on hunger mitigation work.
The Columbia Gorge Food Bank and its pantry partners had more than 77,000 visits last year, and the Oregon Food Bank network saw a record 2.5 million visits statewide — a 31% jump compared to the year prior — but Goodwin has less food flowing through her warehouse. In March, USDA axed $500 million from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which buys food from domestic farmers and sends it to distributors nationwide, leading to an 18% reduction in her annual supply, as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News.
Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill also eliminated SNAP-Ed, a program designed to provide nutrition education, promote physical activity and help low-income people lead healthier lives. According to Lauren Kraemer, an associate professor of practice at Oregon State University (OSU), the institution had lay off 80 employees who helped create community gardens at farmworker housing sites, teach cooking classes and conduct outreach in schools, among other initiatives.
Commented