NORTHERN MICHIGAN, (WPBN/WGTU) — As the federal budget is debated in Washington D.C., in Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer released a statement Wednesday criticizing the proposed funding cuts to SNAP.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, serves 1.5 million Michiganders.
Is the need growing and can we keep up with it? Hopefully.
Patty Steele, the Social Services Supervisor at the Traverse City Salvation Army, sees a lot of people come through the organization’s cafeteria every week. She said many of them are new faces.
“Which makes the need just grow and grow and grow,” said Steele.
The Northwest Michigan Community Development Coalition sent a letter Monday to lawmakers. It noted that funding cuts to programs like SNAP will have a detrimental effect.
“Regardless of where you come down on the politics of what’s happening with the administration’s executive orders, funding rescissions, the spending bill that’s moving through the Congress or the tariffs that have been imposed there are real consequences for our region that could have negative impacts on the way we do business and on the way our nonprofits serve our community,” said Dave Mengebier with the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation.
In April alone, more than 14,000 people in the region received food assistance.
“This is not just a communication to members of Congress in Washington this is really to the public here at large just expressing some concerns that we’ve got about the impact of these spending cuts,” said Mengebier.
Steele said she sees the impact of those cuts at the Traverse City Salvation Army’s weekly community meals and market.
She said 59 households used the market on Wednesday. Last week it was 70.
“We have a lot of people we serve in one hour twice a week with that food market,” emphasized Steele. “The question is, can all the stores, can all the people keep giving enough to take care of the population’s growing needs? I don’t know.”
A lot of the food in their market comes from Food Rescue.
Food Rescue is a distributor that brings food to 78 regional pantries each week.
“Last year, there was a 41% increase in food pantry usage, but there was only a 2% increase in the amount of food that we were distributing to the food pantries,” said Taylor Moore, the director of Food Rescue.
Steele and Moore both said they rely on donations and the generosity of the community. However, even the generosity of others may not be enough to keep up with the demand.
“People are going to go to food pantries, and it will look different than it did before because we can’t simply go out and get 41% more food,” explained Moore.
Moore emphasized that Food Rescue’s distribution system will not change, and that the organization works with 80 farms to get as much fresh produce to pantries as possible.
“It’s really important that people come in and they leave feeling like they have self-worth and dignity,” said Steele. “That is as important as how many groceries they have in that bag.”
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