New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services says SNAP enrollees in the state received their benefits this past weekend. But the future of the food assistance program is still uncertain as the government shutdown continues and the Trump administration told states they had to “undo” funding for SNAP recipients.
At the heart of all of this, there are the thousands of Granite Staters who rely on SNAP to pay for their groceries. NHPR’s Michelle Liu spoke with Christy Langlois, the North Country Food Systems Manager at the New Hampshire Food Bank, about what kinds of assistance is available.
Transcript
There's a lot of uncertainty about the immediate future of SNAP benefits during the shutdown, but I imagine it was a big sigh of relief for many people in New Hampshire to see their account balance go up this weekend. For the time being, what does the return of these benefits mean for people now? How will this affect them?
The return of benefits does relieve a little bit of stress, but I can tell you that we held a SNAP-only distribution here at the Berlin warehouse on Friday, and the stress is tangible. It's so real. I can literally see it on our neighbors in need, right on their faces. You can feel it. It's something real, and to have their benefits back just allows them to function on a day-to-day basis without the worry and the struggle of housing and food. So it makes all the difference in the world for these folks.
Can you describe the scene at that Friday distribution?
We knew that we were going to have a big turnout. And you know, when people think of New Hampshire, they really picture the quiet small towns, mountains and strong communities. And that's really true — that picture-perfect image. But, you know, behind there is an unseen, quiet, persistent struggle of food insecurity. And that's exactly what we saw here on Friday.
We never know how many folks are going to show up. No one has a crystal ball. We were poised for a certain number of attendees, and the number that actually attended far exceeded what we had planned for. So that's just a testament to what folks are anticipating. And of course, we're right up against the toughest time of the months in the North Country where it truly is the reality of, you know, heating versus eating, and those difficult decisions that folks have to make.
Christy, you're from Berlin and you still live there. The North Country has the highest rate of food insecurity in the state. As someone from the area, why do you think that is?
Long travel times are the most underestimated barrier for the North Country and folks getting help. Yes, we have partner agencies statewide, but sometimes folks have a hard time reaching our partner agencies. You know, we have fewer grocery stores. We don't have public transportation. We have very limited Uber or rideshare, if any. So there is limited access to fresh food. And the food that they are able to obtain is sometimes canned or processed and at a higher cost because there's the whole supply and demand facet.
If there's anyone listening right now who is still concerned about how they'll get their next meal or next bag of groceries, what kinds of resources can you say they can still get regardless of what happens with SNAP benefits? And what else should they know?
The greatest resource would be to visit the New Hampshire Food Bank website. We have a wonderful "find food" tab on our website that allows folks to enter in their zip code and find all of our partner agencies that are closest to their geographical region.
And the other thing I'd really like to add is that one thing about the North Country that I've definitely seen is that, you know, we're a really tight knit community which has its pros and cons. Everyone kind of knows everyone else's comings and goings and business. And for that reason, I've really noticed a trend where some might hesitate to ask for help because they feel stigmatized to be seen at a pantry. You know, I know that pride and privacy sometimes make it hard to ask for help. And I've often been approached with the saying that "somebody else might need it more than me." But please reach out to these resources because they're here for you, and it's okay to ask for assistance.
