Bare Cupboard: Food Insecurity, SNAP & the Shutdown

This fall's government shutdown left many American families having to choose between buying groceries and paying for other necessities. Photo credit: Jordan March.

The longest government shutdown in history left people hungry and shed light on a crisis: food insecurity and the role of government assistance. 

The shutdown ended last month, but its effects on needy families and food banks continues.

Due to the government shutdown, 41.7 million people in the United States didn’t receive government assistance to purchase food, leaving Americans who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to face food insecurity and uncertainty.

SNAP is a federal food assistance program that provides a monthly “allowance” to users to purchase allowed foods. The only thing that can be purchased through SNAP is food; no non-food or hot foods are accepted. To apply for SNAP, there are many different limits and requirements, making it difficult to attain this help.

According to the Pew Research Center, nearly one in every eight people in the country is on SNAP assistance. 

The Regional Food Bank is the largest nonprofit food bank in Oklahoma, working alongside churches, schools and almost all food pantries. 

Austin Prickett, the food bank's director of marketing and communications, mentioned that Food Bank partners saw a 37% increase in people who showed up for help. Due to a large dip in federal funding over the 2025 summer, the food bank and others like it not only spent more money on food but also became strained as a result. 

The SNAP pause increased the difficulty and urgency of their work.

While there isn't a complete overlap between people who utilize food pantries and those who receive SNAP, many people who otherwise would get SNAP turned to the Food Banks for support during the shutdown, Prickett said.

The shutdown and lapse in SNAP left the Food Bank in “disaster-response” mode," he said, noting that during November the food bank reached multiple days where it was the busiest it had ever been.

Prickett spoke of food insecurity and its prevalence in Oklahoma, saying: “We are in the top ten every year.”

He went on to define food security as “the lack of food and nutrition to live a healthy life.”

Misconceptions abound

Many misconceptions surround utilizing SNAP. Prickett said navigating the system is challenging, and many people who struggle to make ends meet nonetheless earn too much to qualify. He said many of those who utilize SNAP are working families and individuals. Because of these misconceptions, he said, SNAP beneficiaries are often stigmatized.

The intensity of the shutdown left some families with the dilemma of whether to pay their rent and bills or put food on the table.

Prickett said the biggest ways people can help food banks and those who struggle to afford food is to volunteer, raise money, conduct food drives and otherwise advocate for a stronger social safety net.

The food bank's website has easy-to-navigate listings of places and ways for Oklahomans to help their fellow Oklahomans.