Just ahead of federal food benefits running out for more than a million Bay Staters, Governor Maura Healey announced Thursday that the state will advance a scheduled $4 million payment for food pantries — but is not tapping into the state's reserves, despite calls from advocates to do so.
In Holyoke, almost half the city households depend on the those benefits, known as SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said Wednesday, the impact of SNAP running out could be devastating for city residents.
"We're talking about 9600 families in Holyoke. It's 9600 households. In those households, we're talking about over 16,000 of our neighbors, depending on these benefits, 16,000 humans," he said adding that this group is overwhelmingly made up of senior citizens and children.
"Help is available through local partners because no one should go hungry when our neighbors stand ready to help," Garcia said during a press conference, where he was joined by city department heads.
In the immediate, Holyoke's response to address what they're calling a "food crisis" is to calculate who is distributing non-perishable food items and serving hot meals.
'No 1 Hungry Holyoke'
"We have launched a provider survey," said Alicia Zoeller, the city's Community Development Director.
"It's available on our [city] website ... No 1Hungry Holyoke... We're asking folks to return it by Monday, with the hope that we'll be able to compile a comprehensive list of local resources," Zoeller said.
She commended the work of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, but said faith based organizations and private entities also host community meals that are not part of the Food Bank's network.
"We want to make sure that folks in the community are aware of those resources, and so the survey is asking providers to let us know when, where, how people can access food, community meals," Zoeller said.
During the hour long press conference, Garcia, like other Massachusetts Democrats, was critical of the Trump administration's decision not to use federal contingency funds to continue SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
A proposed fund to address the crisis
Without too many details of how it would work, Garcia said he is proposing a new city fund that would help out city residents and aid group with the kinds of federal cuts and freezes Garcia expects to see continue during the Trump administration.
"We want to set up a special fund, that will allow the city to respond to these crises as they continue to arise," said Holyoke City Treasurer Rory Casey.
That fund would need approval from the city council and will be proposed at the November meeting.
"We expect to put a transfer of around $100,000 just to start," Casey said, adding they hope that between interest earnings and private donations, the fund in time could grow to over $1 million.
"We still have to figure out exactly what the criteria would be," Casey said. "The first step is actually having the money in the bank and the ability for the mayor and the city council ...to be able to disburse these funds and help the very community members that we call our friends and neighbors."
Mass. and other states suing the USDA
Earlier this week, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 22 of her counterparts filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging the agency is using the ongoing federal government shutdown to unlawfully suspend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that delivers food aid to 40 million Americans.
Reporting from the State House News Service was used in this story.
