Local food bank prepares for possibility of second government shutdown

Congress has one week from Friday to pass a bill that would stop a second government shutdown in 2019.

The partial government shutdown that ended in January was the longest in United States history. It affected thousands of federal workers, some of who worked for no pay during the shutdown.

Programs like the Women, Infants, and Children and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were also affected. Food stamp recipients received their February benefits in January, and officials were not sure if recipients would get stamps after February.

Some women feared they would lose their benefits through the WIC program as federal funding began to diminish during the shutdown as well.

Now, the Missouri WIC program has funding through at least March 31, 2019. A statement sent to department employees said local agencies should continue to issue WIC checks to participants.

It also stated agencies should issue April, May, and June checks in March for participants who receive checks tri-monthly.

The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri did not see a influx of people during the partial government shutdown. Director of Programs, Eric Maly, said the food bank did prepare for the possibility.

“The SNAP benefits were issued early for the month of February, so individuals receiving food stamps got them on Jan. 20,” Maly said. “We were concerned that people would be using those benefits before the end of February, and so we were kind of ramping up, but we didn’t actually see any significant increases or decreases during the month of January.”

He said food banks around the country are preparing for the possibility of a second shutdown.

“I think we’re all prepared for an uptick in numbers if there were to be a second shutdown,” Maly said. “You have to remember there’s a network of food banks across the country and we’re kind of working in a coordinated response.”

Maly said working with different groups is how the local food bank prepares. The food bank in Columbia has talked about doing more food drives if there is another shutdown.

“The basic need of food is something that I think we can all agree is not a partisan issue,” he said. “It’s something that we all want to rally around and make sure our neighbors are able to feed their families.”