It was standing-room only in the waiting room of PRISM’s food shelf in Golden Valley on Monday morning, as customers awaited their turn to fill a cart with items like eggs, onions, bread and diapers.
“By the time you pay your rent everything’s gone,” said first-time visitor Marie Ray-Taylor, 78. She said costs, from the price of eggs to her rent, have gone “up, up, up … It’s too much.”
Rising food prices and higher costs of living, along with the end of pandemic-era benefits, led to another record-breaking year of food shelf visits for the state, with Minnesotans making nearly 9 million visits to places like PRISM last year. That has jumped from around 3.5 million food shelf visits annually before the pandemic.
The number of Minnesotans receiving food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has also gone up significantly since 2020. For every one meal distributed through food shelves, nine meals are provided by SNAP. Many fear possible federal cuts to SNAP benefits could leave even more Minnesotans seeking help from food shelves.
Ray-Taylor started receiving SNAP benefits in recent years, after she stopped working.
“I’m so worried,” the Brooklyn Park resident said of potential cuts. “Who knows what’s going to happen?”
A woman shops for vegetables during a visit at PRISM’s food shelf on Monday in Golden Valley. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The recent U.S. House budget blueprint directed the Agriculture Committee to cut $230 billion. Exactly what that could mean for the food benefit program remains to be seen and budget talks have a long way to go. However, the majority of the spending that committee oversees goes to the SNAP program.
The state expects to spend $1.6 billion from the SNAP program in the current fiscal year, State Budget Director Ahna Minge recently told lawmakers. The program provides food assistance for 456,000 low-income Minnesotans, including families, older adults and people with disabilities. The average benefit is $6.16 per day.
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