Christians work to feed hungry people amid government shutdown – The Christian Chronicle

ABILENE, TEXAS — In big cities and tiny towns across the U.S., Christians are working to feed hungry people — including seniors, families and the working poor — poised to lose food benefits.
When Congress failed to pass a budget or continuing resolution, government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, began running out of money to fund programs and pay employees. The resulting government shutdown, about to enter its second month, left 1.3 million civilian government employees furloughed or still working but without pay.
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Thus, as of Nov. 1, another 42 million people who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — known as SNAP — risk being unable to buy groceries.
Rulings Friday by federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island require the USDA to use emergency funds and disburse them  “timely or as soon as possible, for the November 1 payments to be made.”
The orders don’t solve the problem, though, because the $5.5 billion available in emergency funds is far less than the $9 billion per month spent for the program. Moreover, facilitating funds distribution to states could take several days.
Patrick Odum, minister and elder of the Northwest Church of Christ in Chicago, said Christians need to respond “with compassion and generosity and grace.”
About 70 people come through the Northwest pantry every Saturday. Odum estimates more than half depend on SNAP benefits. According to USDA figures, 19.5 percent of SNAP funds go to adults over 60. Almost 40 percent go to children 17 and younger.
“People are in the situations they’re in for all sorts of reasons,” Odum said. “Not always entirely their own fault. And even if it is, we’re called to be generous and compassionate and show the love of Christ in the way we interact with people around us.”
Abdiel Estrada loads food into the car of a client at the Northwest Church of Christ’s food pantry.
Odum’s words were echoed by Christians across the country who run church pantries or larger Christian nonprofits and live out Jesus’ words through their ministries:
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
Jim Clark and Tamme Carroll help feed the hungry through Abilene’s Christian Service Center, which fills 156 food requests that vary in size based on the size of a family.
In Abilene, the Christian Service Center provides food, clothing, rent assistance, financial training, dental assistance and vouchers for gas and bus passes. More than a dozen churches and other Christian nonprofits operate pantries in this West Texas city of about 130,000, but the Service Center is the only one open five days per week.
In an average month, the center fills 156 food requests that vary in size based on the size of a family.
The Christian Service Center is the only food pantry in Abilene open five days per week.
Jim Clark, executive director, expects that number to grow.
“New people are coming who have never been here before,” he said. “Just yesterday and today, we had 10 new people.”
Clark said even before the shutdown raised the specter of lost SNAP benefits, calls had increased.
“Some are real stressed out,” he said. “It seems like when people call, they’re more tense, more angry. Rent is going up.  Food prices are going up.”
Rising grocery prices, rising rent, furloughs and layoffs stretch the resources of church pantries and Christian service providers even further.
Abilene is home to Dyess Air Force Base, which has about 500 civilian employees and another 670 with the National Guard and Reserve. Military members have not yet missed a full paycheck. Civilians are working without pay, and not just at the base.
The local United Way office has begun hearing from furloughed IRS employees, some with 20 years on the job.
Workers with the Christian Service Center sort bread and other donations.
In addition to the rising grocery prices, an influx of workers building a giant data center north of town has absorbed all the housing in an already tight market, causing a concomitant increase in rent.
Lynnda Brown, one of the receptionists who greets Christian Service Center clients when they arrive, has seen it, too.
“This week we’ve had a significant increase in phone calls from people asking how the food pantry works — because they’ve never had to use it and want to know the logistics,” she said. She was particularly moved by one single mom employed full time in the health care industry whose hands shook as she began filling out paperwork.
“I’ve never had to ask for help. I’m always the person giving help. I feel ashamed that I can’t take care of my family.”
The woman began to cry as she explained that after paying her rent and utilities, she didn’t have anything left for food. “I can’t keep up any more,” she told Brown.
“I’ve never had to ask for help. I’m always the person giving help,” she told the receptionist. “I feel ashamed that I can’t take care of my family.”
Prepared bags of food sit on shelves at the Christian Service Center in Abilene.
The Christian Service Center, now 60 years old, operates out of a sprawling 25,000-square-foot building formerly occupied by the Woodlawn Church of Christ, which closed. Regular support comes from multiple churches and a few local businesses to cover staff, overhead and food purchases from the local food bank. Clark said they have plenty of capacity.
Most ministries are smaller — often one church, one pantry, open one day a week.
In Macon, Ga., Karen Hancock insists she doesn’t have a title, though she’s the volunteer who signs the contracts with the local food bank and organizes others to keep feeding the hungry through the pantry at the Thomaston Road Church of Christ.
She’s quick to explain that the weekly food distribution is funded entirely by private donations from some of the congregation’s 400 members and staffed by 10 to 12 volunteers each Wednesday evening.
On a recent Wednesday, cars began lining up at 2 p.m. The pantry doesn’t open until 5:30.
Volunteers pack bags at the Thomaston Road Church of Christ food pantry.
“We used to serve 10 a night. Now we’re serving 25, and last night 28 families. And we turned away at least 32 cars,” Hancock said.
“You hate turning people away, but we wouldn’t have any food for next week if we didn’t stop,” she explained, adding that they also try to close so volunteers can make it to midweek Bible study at 7.
Like Abilene, Macon is adjacent to a military base, just 20 minutes away. Robins Air Force Base’s workforce exceeds 22,000, but most — almost 15,000 — are civilians who aren’t being paid during the shutdown.
Lynn Collins stands next to shelves of canned goods at the Thomaston Road Church of Christ food pantry.
Hancock expects to see more cars waiting in line next Wednesday.
She recalled a woman who had arrived the week before with three kids in the car. She had lost her job during government downsizing in the spring and been evicted when she couldn’t pay rent.
“You see those kids just staring at us — and she was crying,” Hancock recalled. “Their clothes and everything were stuffed in the car, and that’s where they were living till they could get housing. We gave them what we could — they can’t cook anything. … You walk away from that and think there’s more help needed than we can give her.”
In Muscatine, Iowa, a town of just 23,000, the Church of Christ manages the Muscatine Mobile Food Pantry. At the congregation of about 120 members, 40 to 50 are involved with the ministry that also draws volunteers from the community.
Donny Anderson, minister, said they receive about 26,000 pounds of food per month from the area food bank.
It’s a new project for the congregation, as of Aug. 1 of this year. Previously, distribution had averaged about 325 families per month.
A reporter interviews Donny Anderson in front of a River Bend Food Bank truck.
“The first month we had it, it went to 434 then went to 508,” Anderson said.
Last month they served 521 families, and he believes the impact of SNAP cuts will push it much higher.
“In the last three months we have seen an increase from 300 to 500-plus, and if SNAP and WIC go away, how do we distribute milk products?” Anderson wondered.
Muscatine Mobile Food Pantry volunteers sort through pallets of donations.
WIC — Women, Infants and Children — is a smaller government program than SNAP. It provides healthy foods, nutrition education and breastfeeding support to low-income mothers and their infants and children up to age five.
“It’s going to be a massive impact,” Anderson added.
He used the word “massive” over and over.
“We are turning away people now, literally telling people at the end of month, ‘We’re out of food.’” Anderson said. “The impact of SNAP is a question mark. We just know it’s going to be massive. The food bank is trying to figure out how to provide more food, but how much is more?”
Social media feeds have flooded with Christians in churches of all sizes reaching out, offering help, asking for help.
The Golf Course Road Church in Midland, Texas, announced it would give $50,000 to local community partners serving those most affected by the shutdown
Steven Hunter, minister at the Glendale Road Church of Christ in Murray, Kentucky, said that church has ordered 83 cases of beans and corn and a pallet of peanut butter and canned fruit to arrive next week for the blessing boxes it distributes throughout the community.
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“We don’t generally order these, but given the shutdown, we’re trying to ramp up our giving,” Hunter said in an email.
In a Facebook post, Roger Moon, song leader at the congregation in Halletsville, Texas, population 2,700, made it personal:
“Everyone can afford to buy a can of food for 50 cents, right? This Sunday, bring groceries to your buildings. Don’t wait for the call, invitation. We need to compassionately step up!  Now — is the time!!  My daughter has a debilitating disease, ALS. Her husband is out of work. They lose $300.00 of grocery money next week. Could you afford to suddenly lose $300 in grocery money? …
“Take time to drop off one can in front of the doors of churches. Overwhelm churches with food. The Bible is clear!! We must help the poor. Don’t wait on the government to do what Christians should do. Love others! Do not let children go hungry, please.”
“We must help the poor. Don’t wait on the government to do what Christians should do. Love others! Do not let children go hungry, please.”
And far north of Halletsville, in Lewistown, Mont., ranchers are putting beef in a church basement freezer for folks who can’t afford meat.
Russell Epperson has served as the minister of the Central Montana Church of Christ there for 14 years.
The freezer filled up years ago when one rancher friend had extra ground beef. Epperson asked to buy 30 pounds, and the rancher said, “Here’s another 40 or 50 for the church.”
The “Little Free Pantry” is part of the Hastings Church of Christ’s community outreach in Nebraska.
“It’s a real blessing to people,” Epperson said.
Eventually they had to get a bigger freezer. Other members who had extra beef added to the stash. Recently, a rancher who’s not part of the church contributed.
The distribution has been informal. Epperson tries to be involved in a lot of different benevolence efforts in town. And some of the church members are on SNAP benefits, too. Epperson expects the SNAP cuts to affect them.
“It’s just the church doing what the church does — finding folks in need and giving them food.”
It’s a simple thing in a small church. Epperson explained:
“It’s just the church doing what the church does — finding folks in need and giving them food.
“Last night I saw an elderly member at the grocery store who has a couple of daughters, and I said, ‘We have extra beef in the freezer.’”
“I could use that right now,” she said.
A lot of people could use that right now.
CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact [email protected].
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