Food banks in Iowa and Illinois are feeling pressure from the government shutdown.
Managers of the Food Bank of Iowa are preparing in case federal funding for food programs goes away. SNAP benefits and WIC food programs continue as normal during the shutdown,
but food bank managers worry more furloughed or laid off federal employees might turn to food pantries for help.
The Food Bank of Iowa isn’t federally-funded. It gets commodity food through the USDA. Managers say they should keep getting those deliveries through December, but anything beyond that is at risk.
Soup kitchens in Illinois are bracing for the impact from federal cuts to SNAP food benefits. Managers of the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Champaign say they went from serving 600 meals a day to about 1,000 a day over the last six months. They serve a five-course meal every day at noon and send their guests home with a sack lunch.
An Eastern Illinois Foodbank spokesperson says that organization is seeing the need increase as well. They are serving twice as many people now as compared to 2022.