Two children support their mother collect food from the Sugartree Ministry food bank in Wilmington, Ohio. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Peaches Calhoun, a SNAP recipient in Ohio, worries what will happen to her family’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits if the federal government shutdown extends into November.
Calhoun, a single mother of four in Columbus, is one of approximately 1.39 million Ohioans receiving SNAP benefits.
“This is how I live my life right now,” she said Thursday during a news conference at the Statehouse. “Someone who has seen the fear on their children’s faces when there are more months left than money, someone who knows that hunger is not a topic of conversation, it’s just a sound, it’s a feeling, it’s a slow ache that lives in your bones.”
The federal government has been suspended since October 1 and SNAP benefits are funded this month, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated in al.After On Oct. 10, “funds will not be sufficient to pay full November SNAP benefits to approximately 42 million people nationwide” if the shutdown continues. The USDA also posted posted on its website that federal food aid would not be awarded on November 1.
Average SNAP benefits in Ohio are $190 a month, said Tom Betti, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
“The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services is closely monitoring the situation with federal facility closures,” Betti wrote in an email. “We have not yet received further guidance from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, so we cannot speculate beyond October.”
To qualify for SNAP, Ohioans must have: net income on or below federal poverty guidelines — $32,150 a year for a family of four.
State Rep. Latina Humphrey, D-Columbus, presented House Bill 502 earlier this month, which would provide funds to continue funding SNAP and certain other federal programs if there was a pause in federal funding.
“Grocery stores are not going to stop operating,” she said. “The bills won’t stop coming. Babies won’t stop needing formula and families will still need to eat.”
House Bill 502 has not held any hearings to date and no hearings are currently scheduled on the bill. Her bill contains an emergency measure, meaning it would take effect immediately if signed into law.
“We’re getting very close to November 1, and I’m urging my colleagues on the Republican side to start thinking and coming together and even showing a willingness to work with me, to work with us to do something so that we’re prepared if November 1 comes and there’s no solution,” Humphrey said. “My bill may not be the actual solution, but it is possible to prepare a similar bill, track it quickly and get it to the governor’s desk,” she said.
On Monday, she sent a letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urging him to preserve SNAP benefits.
State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, R-Columbus, said HB 502 is “a plan to solve the problem we face today.”
“If we love Ohioans, we have to feed our people,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
Mid-Ohio Food Collective helps feed more than 5,000 families every day – 58% more families than at the height of the pandemic, said Mid-Ohio Food Collective spokesman Mike Hochron.
“For many of our neighbors, just one break is enough to avoid problems putting food on the table,” he said. “SNAP helps working families keep food on the table, a roof over their heads and keeps the economy strong. … We are here to help as best we can, but with no gap assistance, and if SNAP benefits are not delivered in November, we anticipate the need for services will far exceed what our food bank and interest network can meet on their own.”
Calhoun criticized President Donald Trump for building the so-called 300 million dollars ballroom in the White House.
“They’re building ballrooms and I’m making shopping lists that don’t add up,” she said. “How come you have marble floors and empty pantries at the same time?”
The longest government shutdown occurred during Trump’s first term as president in 2019 and lasted 35 days.
“This is now the second longest shutdown in our nation’s history, and without immediate intervention from our elected state and federal leaders, it will be the most devastating,” said Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley.
Follow a Capital Journal reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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