Time Running Out for SNAP Benefits

Local advocates say the crisis is already here for recipients of food assistance

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
October 30, 2025
Posted in: State & Region

Fresh produce is prepared for distribution by Mission: Agape at the Croatian Club in Versailles on Sept. 26. Mission: Agape and other food banks are alarmed by the federal government shut-down that has caused an end to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for nearly 2 million Pennsylvania residents. (Submitted photo courtesy Mission: Agape)

Listen:

Charla Irwin-Buncher of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Kelly Doyle of Mission: Agape were our guests this week on “Two Rivers, 30 Minutes,” our weekly talk show that airs on Tube City Online Radio, WEDO (810) and WZUM (1550/101.1 FM)

Organizers at local food banks say the panic has already begun for more than 2 million Pennsylvania residents — mostly senior citizens and children — who use the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy groceries each month.

The SNAP program — still commonly referred to as “food stamps” — has run out of money due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, which began almost a month ago.

Charla Irwin-Buncher, chief external affairs officer for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne, said the federal government has already missed the deadline for recipients to receive their November benefits.

“The crisis is already here,” Irwin-Buncher said. “It’s causing a lot of anxiety and stress amongst people who are recipients of the SNAP program. We have seen a surge in demand at our on-site food pantry attached to our building in Duquesne. People are preparing in advance, knowing that their SNAP benefits might not come through in November.”

Last week, Mission: Agape, which operates a food bank in White Oak near Penn State Greater Allegheny, distributed deer meat that had been culled from animals in Allegheny County parks.

Kelly Doyle, Mission: Agape co-founder, said that in years past, people who accepted deer meat were usually those who like wild game. This year, she said, recipients were taking deer meat in lieu of beef, pork or chicken that they may not be able to buy next month. 

Mission: Agape distributed two full trucks of donated venison, Doyle said. “We had people lined up around the building,” she said.

According to state officials, 1.9 million Pennsylvanians who receive SNAP benefits, including 714,000 children and 697,000 senior citizens. The federal program, funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides more than $366 million in food assistance to the state each month.

In a press release, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said “these are costs the Commonwealth cannot backfill.”

Although there is a federal contigency plan for funding SNAP benefits during a government shut-down, the USDA has said it does not have authorization from President Trump to use that plan.

According to Pittsburgh-based Just Harvest, a non-profit group that works to address food insecurity and hunger in the region, no president has ever before refused to pay SNAP benefits during a government shut-down.

“When our leaders turn food and healthcare into bargaining chips, families suffer, small businesses lose, and trust in government erodes,” said Heather Seiders, interim executive director of Just Harvest. “This is not governance, it’s cruelty disguised as politics.”

Just Harvest said the federal government had already cut millions of dollars from SNAP benefits when both houses of Congress passed the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law by President Trump on July 4. About 143,000 Pennsylvania residents lost benefits or saw them reduced, the group said.

Trump’s Republican Party controls both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Although the House approved a stop-gap funding bill — a so-called “continuing resolution” that would have funded government operations through Nov. 21 — it was not adopted by the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. House has since adjourned and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters on Wednesday he has no plans to bring that chamber back to work unless the U.S. Senate accepts the terms of the continuing resolution.

“What’s the point?” Johnson told reporters, blaming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for the impasse.

SNAP benefits are intended to supplement the grocery budget for families who qualify, Irwin-Buncher said. Benefits are limited only to food items and do not include health care items, household products or other grocery store essentials, she said.

There are restrictions on food items as well, Irwin-Buncher said. For example, prepared food items — grab-and-go meals — are not covered.

“It doesn’t cover all the needs for the month,” she said. “It allows folks to supplement their wages or any other income they have.”

Doyle said a high percentage of the people served at Mission: Agape have a full-time job that doesn’t pay their expenses. “Most of the people we have served are working poor or senior citizens,” she said.

The myth that able-bodied people are receiving food stamps because they’re too lazy to work is just that — a myth, Doyle said. 

“There are always one or two exceptions that prove the rule,” she said, “but the people we serve, absolutely already have jobs, and I would also say that there have been many people over the years who received food from us, and later volunteered because, they said, ‘I just want to give back.’”

The Greater Pittsburgh food bank works with smaller food pantries in 11 counties, ranging from very small neighborhood food pantries and “soup kitchens” to larger regional organizations.

The organization procures food from several different channels, said Irwin-Buncher — it receives donations from manufacturers and suppliers, it accepts surplus food from federal sources that support farmers and growers, and it purchases food on the open market.

But the supply chains have already been strained by the end of several programs created under former President Biden that helped the Greater Pittsburgh food bank and other agencies get access to surplus foods. Some of the programs were created during the COVID pandemic and were set to expire, Irwin-Buncher said, but others were ended after President Trump took office in January.

No explanation was given, she said, except that “we were told that USDA needed to free up funds for other uses.”

The programs that were discontinued ended abruptly, with little chance for food banks to transition to other sources, Irwin-Buncher said. “It’s just unfortunate the way they did it,” she said.

McKeesport Area School District Superintendent Donald MacFann announced this week that students may continue to receive a free breakfast or lunch during every scheduled school day.

In addition, he said, MASD students also may take advantage of a free dinner during school days Mondays through Thursdays at McKeesport Area High School, Founders' Hall Middle School, Twin Rivers Elementary and Francis McClure Elementary.

State Rep. Dan Goughnour of McKeesport has distributed a list of emergency food resources.

But Doyle said that volunteers and small food pantries — and even larger ones such as Mission: Agape — cannot fill the gap left by the end of SNAP benefits.

“I have an email box full of people saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do in November,’” Doyle said. “I’ve seen people here I’ve never seen before — elderly people. I feel like I’m signing up my grandparents to get food. It feels really heartbreaking. We’re trying to add as many people to our rosters as we can, but we don’t know how much we’ll be able to give out next month. It’s frightening.”

Doyle said she has been in contact with U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and other local representatives, urging them to pass a federal budget.

In the meantime, she said, people who want to help should consider making a monetary donation to a food bank, even if it isn’t Mission: Agape.

“I’d love if it was mine, but it doesn’t have to be ours,” Doyle said. “It can absolutely be whatever your local one is. We’re all in the same boat.”

Jason Togyer is editor of Tube City Almanac and executive director of Tube City Community Media Inc. He is an unpaid volunteer.

Originally published October 30, 2025.

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