UPDATE: As of Friday, March 13th, a federal injunction from the U.S. District Court has been issued to block this rule from going into effect April 1st.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many low-income workers are at risk of losing a significant amount of their income and even their jobs. The implementation of the new SNAP rule would further burden these individuals with the challenge of affording food at such globally challenging times.

Please stay tuned for more updates about this rule, as they become available.

What you should know:
Beginning April 1, 2020, nearly 700,000 unemployed individuals will be cut off from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or their “SNAP” benefits. Though the United States Department of Agriculture has stated that children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities will not be affected, those considered able-bodied adults without dependents will no longer receive governmental food assistance.

Currently, SNAP limits unemployed adults (aged 18 to 49 years old) to three months worth of benefits until they meet a 20-hour weekly work minimum. In the past, SNAP programs located in areas of high unemployment would waive this requirement, but with this new rule, they will have greater difficulty accommodating residents of these areas.

What Guardian Angel can do:
When governmental programs like SNAP are cut, nonprofit organizations like Guardian Angel, who may have already reached capacity, will be left to fulfill the increased need of existing clients.

In addition to offering a variety of fresh produce, meats, cheese and other nontraditional pantry items, our Client Choice Food Pantry also works with families and individuals to help them understand changes to their SNAP benefits, make them aware of the additional resources available to them, and walk them through the process of getting registered for those additional programs and/or services.

How You Can Help:
Every day, food pantries struggle to serve their communities because the need is so great. With almost 7% of current SNAP beneficiaries facing upcoming ineligibility, our pantry – like many others – will have to rely on increased donations to operate. Please consider supporting Guardian Angel clients during these difficult times by making a donation to our food pantry.

Donations to our food pantry can be made Monday through Friday from 9am – 3:30pm. Please call (314) 773 – 9027.