• Some of Michigan’s 1.4 million food stamp recipients began missing benefit payments Saturday amid a federal government shutdown
• Trump admin agrees to resume program, but plans only partial payments in November and warns of continued delays
• Food banks report high demand, some Michigan residents say they are rationing supplies

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Some of Michigan’s most vulnerable residents were flocking to food banks Monday after missing their weekend payments from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Volunteers were passing out meals. Donors were pitching in. The mayor of the state’s second-largest city began fasting with a group of religious leaders in a show of solidarity. 

And at the Winston Group Home in Macomb County, officials were worried how they’ll keep food on the table for their six residents, each with developmental disabilities. 

“This is a real concern for us,” said Robert Howard, who manages the group home, which relies on $1,605 in monthly food assistance payments those residents typically qualify for. 

The SNAP benefits were paused Saturday after the US Department of Agriculture claimed “the well has run dry” amid a month-long federal government shutdown that shows no sign of ending anytime soon. 

President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it would comply with court orders to use contingency funds to restart the program — but recipients will only get partial payments for November, and an official warned it could take “a few weeks to up to several months” for states to adjust systems for reduced benefits.

It’s not clear how long it will take for partial payments to reach the 1.4 million Michiganders who participate in the federal program. A state health department spokesperson said Monday the agency is awaiting more details from USDA. Attorney General Dana Nessel said Friday it would take three days, at minimum, from the time funds are released by the federal government. 

Related:

• Michigan food banks brace for SNAP ‘crisis.’ How to get or give help
• Judges: Feds must continue SNAP food assistance. Michigan delays still expected
• ‘It’s terrifying’: 1.4M Michiganders brace for loss of SNAP food assistance

Caught in the middle are Michiganders like those at the Winston Group, where officials fear for more than just their residents with disabilities. 

Direct care workers who support the residents — making meals, providing personal care, driving them to activities — do so on modest incomes that are often supplemented by SNAP benefits said Lisa Lepine, executive director of Arc of Macomb County, an organization for providers such as Romeo-based Friends and Family, Inc., which operates the group home.

All of this puts providers on edge, even as politicians, it seems, spend more time pointing fingers than finding solutions, Lepine said.

“To me, holding people hostage so they have to search for a next meal is reprehensible,” she told Bridge Michigan. “When did we become a country where that’s acceptable?”

‘We help each other’

On Detroit’s east side, dozens of cars lined around the block at Forgotten Harvest’s Jermaine Jackson Academy drive-thru food pantry Monday morning. It was the location’s first time operating since SNAP funding lapsed this month.  

Kim Lewis, who runs the site, said her group faced cold weather and rain to serve more than 250 families. 

The “higher demand” was clear – volunteers described cars waiting along Gratiot Avenue hours before the pantry’s opening. Forty minutes after the site closed, the group was still loading up cars, only stopping after supplies depleted.

“My mindset was to try to accommodate everybody that came in line because of the shutdown that supposedly happened,” Lewis said, looking over the now empty wooden pallets that had previously hosted boxes of bread, yogurt and cabbage. “I just want to make sure everybody gets a little something.” 

While many arrived by vehicle, Zachery Carr, 68, walked up the street with a wagon to get his food.

Living only a few blocks away, Carr said he regularly shows up to the pantry, which opens every other week, for assistance. Spending his Social Security income primarily on rent and utilities, he said the Forgotten Harvest location helps to keep him fed, along with the government’s monthly payment of $250 in food assistance which was supposed to come through on Monday.

“But it didn’t,” Carr explained. “I’ve been getting it for about two years. First time it’s ever been turned down.”

The lack of additional money will be “detrimental,” Carr told Bridge, saying he plans to “ration” his recently obtained food, possibly going without breakfast, lunch or dinner on some days to “try to make it last.”

Some pantry visitors said they were stretching their current supply of food by buying in bulk amid fears that retailers may stop accepting their Bridge Card payments during the shutdown, even if they have the funds on file. While no official guidance indicates grocers and stores are limiting EBT transactions, the uncertainty around SNAP is leaving recipients anxious.

Sandra Smith, 68, drove up to the food pantry with Clarice Gully, 71, in tow. The two live at the same Detroit apartment complex near Belle Isle. 

While Smith herself does not get food assistance, she said her family does, and they’re not certain it will reliably deliver during their usually scheduled payment.

“I have 13 grandkids,” she said. “We help each other … we’re making it, though.”

“But it’s hard,” Gully chimed in, explaining that her food stamps have not been renewed during the government shutdown, relying on “whatever they give out” in food to make up for the gap. Gully said she gets about $100 a month in SNAP.

“And that’s not enough to feed somebody,” she said.

Community support

Charitable food organizations across Michigan are ramping up operations in an effort to extend their reach in communities impacted by the pause in SNAP benefits. But officials representing charities large and small say none of their efforts will have the same reach as federal food assistance. 

“All of this effort is unnecessary, except that it’s been made necessary, and so we will do what we have to do,” said Gerry Brisson, president and CEO of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

“But that’s not the best solution,” he continued. “It’s not the cheapest solution, it’s not the most efficient solution, it’s not the solution that’s going to reach everybody that needs to be reached.”

At Lambertville United Methodist Church in southeast Michigan, the looming crisis prompted a community response before the benefits actually expired, said Pam Bolton, who runs the church’s twice-a-week food pantry. 

Last week, 75 vehicles lined up outside the church, up from the usual 60 to 65, Bolton said. Donations have jumped too: One woman called to ask where she could drop off about $2,000 of oatmeal, cereal, pasta, vegetables and canned goods. The bags were loaded onto three massive tables when Bolton arrived.

“I went in there and I could have cried,” she said. “It was amazing.”

But obstacles remain when it comes to connecting SNAP recipients missing their usual payments with other community resources. 

Brent Wirth, president and CEO of Easterseals MORC — a Michigan nonprofit that works with disabled individuals, seniors and veterans — said many of their 25,000 clients rely on SNAP benefits to survive, sending their organization into overdrive as they work to connect those impacted with resources. 

The needs of affected Michigan residents vary widely depending on individual circumstances, he said, noting many people with disabilities don’t have access to transportation to easily get to food banks. 

Any disruption in food security “will impact their health,” Wirth said, noting that losing SNAP even temporarily will force many of the state’s most vulnerable to make choices between food and other necessities like healthcare, rent or bills. 

Kevin Sendi, president and CEO of Southfield-based New Oakland Family Centers, said the uncertainty is especially difficult for people with behavioral health issues. It’s another anxiety compounding existing mental health needs, he said.

“The issues that lower socioeconomic individuals struggle with are far different than the issues that you or I would struggle with,” he said.

Their worries are about “necessity,” he said.

“You or I might worry whether we’ll lose our job, but we’re not worried about where our next meal is going to come from, or if we’re going to have a bed to sleep on,” he said.

‘Uncharted territory’

On Monday morning, Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand and dozens of West Michigan faith leaders announced a fast in solidarity with those who are going hungry because of the ongoing shutdown. 

“Of course, fasting doesn’t give anyone else more food, but it does make everyone who participates think a lot more about the fact that more than 10% of the United States right now has got a problem with their SNAP benefits,” said LaGrand, who intends to fast from sunrise to sunset until stable funding for SNAP is restored. 

Beyond that, city officials in Grand Rapids and other communities throughout the state are attempting to fill in the gaps where they can, connecting needy residents with resources and shoring up food accessibility. 

In Flint, city officials have partnered with the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan to start a food voucher program for local SNAP recipients and federal employees who have gone without paychecks since the shutdown started. 

All eligible residents will get two vouchers per month for 30-pound boxes of food, a service Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said demonstrates the city’s commitment to “standing with our residents and ensuring no family goes hungry during this federal shutdown.” 

Starting 5 pm Tuesday, the city of Detroit plans to release a list of about 100 food distribution sites across the city. 

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, in a video posted to social media, made a public plea for volunteers to staff the sites, noting that charitable food organizations have “never had to have the kinds of volunteers that we are going to need.” 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and House Speaker Matt Hall last week announced the state would send an extra $4.5 million to the Food Bank Council of Michigan. But that may not go far: It equates to one day of food benefits for roughly 800,000 Michiganders, according to estimates. 

The Democratic-led state Senate approved a larger $71 million spending bill aimed at temporarily covering the SNAP program, but Hall quickly shot it down. 

Rep. Tonya Myers-Phillips, a Detroit Democrat who wants Michigan to fund SNAP itself through years’ end to avoid any additional benefit disruptions, said the system wasn’t designed for states to pick up the tab. But she argued helping needy families is a worthy use of the state’s reserve funds.  

“We shouldn’t be here, but considering that we are, we have a responsibility,” she said. “If this is not an emergency … I don’t know what is.” 

States that choose to fund the program will not be reimbursed by the federal government, according to the latest USDA guidance.

The challenge, LaGrand said, is that the scale of SNAP benefits and the nationwide need is bigger than any local or state government is equipped to handle. Because the assumption is the federal government will eventually reopen, his focus is tackling food insecurity as an emergency response.

“If you have a hurricane or tornado, the first thing you do is not sit around and say, who’s going to pay for this — the first thing you do is you try to triage,” he said. “We’re in uncharted territory here.”