As funding is on pause for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP], the food pantry at St. Vincent De Paul is seeing an overwhelming number of people in need.
The pantry is open every Monday and on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. St. Vincent offers fresh meat, dairy, vegetables, produce, bread, juice and paper products. It also has a clothing pantry.
The pantry has seen more and more families come to its doors since the government shutdown began last month, putting SNAP benefits in jeopardy.
The Trump administration revealed in court documents Monday it would resume partial payments for SNAP. Beneficiaries will get half of what they normally would get. The move comes after two federal judges ruled the government can’t suspend the program.
On Monday, 30 minutes before the pantry opened, cars snaked through four city blocks as they lined up for the first-come, first-served food products.
A few dozen more were in the walk-up line. Among them was Charles Bradley of Bloomington.
“It’s helped me tremendously, yes, because in these troubling times, I mean, the extra food and the nourishment will be very much appreciated and thankful,” he said.
Bradley came to St. Vincent on Monday because his SNAP benefits were put on hold. Aside from food banks and other sources of help, Bradley said he is most in need of a job.
He hopes funding will be fully restored soon — not just for his sake, but for the entire community.
“It not only affects me, it affects a lot of people and so, I mean, if they lift it, look at the help they’d be providing for the community and for the people,” said Bradley.
Just behind Bradley in line was Charles Hoit and his girlfriend. Hoit, a lifelong resident of Bloomington, works security at Grossinger Motors Arena, but he said that job is not enough to support them.
“I’m trying to provide for me and my girlfriend and even then, so it’s not enough. We’re not making enough, [the] food bank is pretty much what we got now,” he said. “As far as EBT [electronic benefit transfer] went, it made it a lot easier to be able to go out, get food and then return home to your loved ones and still carry on your day.”
Hoit and his girlfriend collected about $500 a month, combined, from SNAP. Now that they are going without, Hoit said the food pantry is accounting for over half his food budget.
He does not know what they would do without it.
“I think that would impact us and a lot of other folks here pretty heavily,” he said. “I mean, we wouldn’t all be here, and we’d pretty much be all out on the streets figuring out who’s going to give us a meal.”
Like so many others, Hoit wishes his elected government officials would get to work and fully restore SNAP funding.
“All I would have to say to them was, ‘Please get off your high horses.’” Hoit said. “Let people live, we’re all human. I don’t believe anybody should have that kind of power to just take all that food and all that support away from us.”
Lot of concern
Last week, Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order to provide $20 million of Illinois contingency funds to support food banks in the state during the government shutdown. Pritzker previously said the state is unable to fund SNAP itself.
It’s unclear if St. Vincent will receive any of that funding, said Judy Aedelman who leads other volunteers distributing food at the pantry.
Aedelman said numbers were increasing at St. Vincent in the last six months — even before SNAP was threatened.
“A lot of people are concerned always, right, for whatever happened,” she said. “They’ve just lost their jobs, or they’ve just had something happen, whatever, but I’m sure the same thing applies to this situation. So, which is why we’re concerned and trying to get through as many people as we can.”
St. Vincent is a customer-choice pantry, meaning clients can make the best selection for their households. Aedelman said due to the increase in demand, the pantry has had to make adjustments, including restricting choices and making the process faster.
“We’re just kind of putting it in their carts, putting it in their cars and not stopping,” said Aedelman. “And that’s the part that we’re sad about is that we don’t have the time to chat as they come through. We’ll definitely be pleasant and kind, but chatting with them is just not going to be an option.”
Bob Hajek is another volunteer. He works at the walk-up table that usually sees people without vehicles and the unhoused.
“We probably average ... 75, 80, 100 walk-up people. The walking number is of course smaller than the cars that drive up,” he said. “Incidentally, the cars that drive up, they may have to wait an hour to an hour and a half just to get through the line and that’s why we’ve done some of these processes to speed it up.”
But food choices are not the only thing to change in the pantry. Aedelman said more volunteers have been enlisted to help unload trucks, to bag items for families and to move pallets of food around the pantry.
And, more want to help.
“We’ve had roughly around 200 volunteers. Some come in on Wednesdays, and Thursdays and Fridays on days we’re not open to do the behind-the-scenes stuff to get ready,” she said. “But we’ve also had an influx of people wanting to volunteer and there’s some guidelines they have to follow. We are a member of the Peoria diocese of the area and so we have to follow the guidelines of them.”
Aedelman said volunteers cannot just “show up.” They have to be trained and certified first.
Food sources
Where the food comes from is another area requiring modification.
St. Vincent gets its food from different places. One key source is the Eastern Illinois FoodBank.
“Our computer systems and all that goes through Eastern Illinois FoodBank and then they supply us with food that they get. Some government subsidies, some stores, that kind of thing,” said Aedelman. “And then also Midwest Food Bank is one of our really larger suppliers of food. They’re just phenomenal ... we’re so lucky to have them here in town.”
St. Vincent’s partners and fellow community organizations help to offset the increased demand ahead of the winter season. However, Aedelman said the greatest support comes directly from neighbors in Bloomington-Normal.
“Honestly, I have to say, I’m just always, always impressed and overwhelmed by the number and breadth of where we get things and how people come and help out,” she said. “We just have people ... come to the door and they’ll just say, ‘We’ve got things for you,’ and it’s like who are you? We don’t even know, that’s wonderful ... we’re just grateful for everything we get.”
Despite all the effort put into helping as many families as possible, the volunteers at St. Vincent had to turn people away because they ran out of food at the last food drive. Aedelman said it was one of the few times the pantry has ever had to do that.
Food insecurity can be an emotionally charged topic to being with, before having a conversation of telling someone there is nothing left for them. But through the hardship, faith and community keep spirits high among volunteers, Aedelman said.
“A lot of prayer for one thing … the camaraderie of our volunteers and putting God first and just giving it to God, basically is what we do and then miraculously it happens,” she said.
Regardless of when benefits are fully restored, Aedelman said the plan for St. Vincent is “steady as she goes.”
Around 42 million Americans have lost food assistance as of Nov. 1. Just under 2 million of them are Illinoisans.
