PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) — Volunteers were out in force at one Philadelphia parish Oct. 31, distributing food hours ahead of a funding lapse for a federal food aid program that serves millions — and helping those in need with a mix of determination and disbelief over the federal aid program’s looming suspension.
“They were calling the parish school to find out about this today,” said Joyce Ramsey, a longtime volunteer at the St. Benedict Church food pantry, part of St. Athanasius Parish in Philadelphia.
Ramsey told OSV News she’s on the “Friday squad” of some 30 volunteers who operate the twice-weekly distribution, which saw an uptick in new clients as SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — was set to be suspended Nov. 1 amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The income-qualified SNAP program, which traces its roots to 1939, served on average 41.7 million people per month, or 12.5% of the nation’s residents, in fiscal year 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program.
SNAP recipients –low-income families, seniors and persons with disabilities living on fixed incomes — receive monthly allowances through electronic benefit transfer accounts, with SNAP EBT cards used like debit or credit cards to purchase essential foods and seeds to grow food. Sales tax, takeaway and pet foods, nonfood items, alcohol, tobacco, vitamins and medicine are excluded.
The USDA said it is unable to draw from its contingency fund — about $6 billion — to meet the $8 million needed for the program’s November funding. Democratic lawmakers have urged the move as they face off with their Republican counterparts over health care funding in the stalled budget.
A lapse in SNAP benefits would mark the first time in modern history there was such a disruption to the program, which is fully funded by the federal government, with the USDA administering the program through the states, and both sides splitting the administrative costs.
The impending SNAP suspension “is just the most outrageous thing I have ever seen,” Ramsey told OSV News.
While noting she didn’t want “to get political,” Ramsey said that with President Donald Trump recently in Asia for trade talks, “these people here are not having anything to eat.”
“It does not make any sense to me,” she said, adding that the administration was “tearing down half the White House” — a reference to Trump’s privately funded project to construct a new ballroom at the site’s former East Wing — while “people don’t have anything to eat.”
Ramsey, who is retired, said she is committed to doing what she can to address the situation.
“Why sit at home and watch TV?” she said. “People come here; they need to eat.”
As they processed paperwork for new clients, volunteers Tina and Paula (who declined to give their last names) said they were concerned by the rising numbers of children and seniors accessing the food pantry.
“They’re getting younger and younger,” said Paula. “And it breaks my heart.”
Tina noted some of the seniors who visit the St. Benedict cupboard “can barely walk, and they still come in with their canes and rollers” to obtain food.
“I couldn’t imagine my grandmother not having food, something to eat,” said Tina.
Paula added, “I can’t imagine anyone not being able to have food, not in America,” describing the shutdown and its attendant congressional impasse as “just unconscionable.”
Tina lamented that this year’s Thanksgiving, which should make November a “joyous month,” will find those in need “worried that they can’t feed their children.”
“Some kids don’t know what a Thanksgiving dinner is,” she reflected.
Speaking to OSV News on Oct. 29, St. Athanasius pastor Father Joseph Okonski — who oversaw the Oct. 31 distribution at St. Benedict — said that regular deliveries from the pantry’s main partnering food bank have shrunk due to cutbacks, tariffs and the federal government shutdown.
Yet as supplies have declined, the need for hunger relief has risen, he said, noting that he and his team had “112 new households sign up in September” alone.
If no more partner deliveries to the pantry are made, “we could go another month, given our supplies,” he said.
Ramsey had to advise at least one client Oct. 31 that the pantry was out of black beans, a staple item at food cupboards that along with rice forms what nutritionists call a “complete protein.”
Father Okonski lamented that the shutdown, the SNAP suspension and the divisive nature of the nation’s political discourse contrasted sharply with the Gospel’s call to compassion and service.
He also noted that a number of clients at the food pantry were reluctant to speak with OSV News directly, due to fear of possible immigration detention.
“For those who claim that we are a Christian nation, it’s almost impossible to actually see that,” he said, quoting from Matthew 25:31-46, in which Christ judges the nations according to their works of mercy to the vulnerable.
“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and welcome you? … Lord, when did we see you a stranger and welcome you?’ — where is that?” he asked. “Please don’t claim Christ as the redeemer, and then treat people this way.”
Yet amid the frustration and concern they expressed, the priest and his volunteer team pointed to the joy of serving others in need.
“It’s a blessing, just helping people,” said Tina. “I can’t help everybody, but I would try if I could.”
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
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