SNAP cuts impact food pantries nationwide as Trump-era policies slash aid, forcing food banks to drop fresh produce and rely on processed foods. Families are left hungry.
Food pantries across the United States are forgoing fresh produce in favor of cheap processed foods after budget cuts from the Trump administration have significantly reduced the amount of federal aid being directed toward food assistance, according to reports.
One such food pantry is Manna from Above, a food pantry just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, which has had to drastically reduce both the quantity and quality of its food to meet the increasing demand exacerbated by less federal assistance.
“Canned foods, things like that aren’t as many as they used to be, as well as the meat; we used to get two to three sometimes, and sometimes it’s been down to one or none,” said Tamara Kuhlman, a Georgian who’s been unable to work since her cancer and Parkinson’s diagnoses and relies on the food pantry to feed herself and her family, speaking with The New York Times. “We rely on this. If we miss it, we wouldn’t eat.”
The Trump administration dealt significant blows to federal food assistance with the president’s key signature policy bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included tax cut extensions enjoyed primarily by the wealthy, and major cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The cuts are projected to boot as many as 22.3 million Americans off of food assistance over ten years.
For Jennifer Deal, the founder of Manna from Above, being unable to provide community members like Kuhlman with as much food as she had in the past, and with food of higher quality, stung.
“It hurts a little bit not to be able to give her fresh produce, fresh fruit, things that are going to help her heal in her journey,” Deal said. “We used to give out onions, apples and things like that, but now we’ve reverted to the junk food; chips, candy, things that are not 100% nutritional. It’s not good for them, but it’s kind of this or starve.” The Trump admin has already cut a Biden-era program that ensured food banks had fresh food – The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP – which in a statement to the Times, an official administration called a “Biden-era slush fund.” Even more cuts to federal food assistance are poised to go into effect next year from the OBBBA.
“We need relief somewhere, we need something to give!” Kuhlman said. “We need to know that it’s going to get better, and right now, it looks like it’s getting worse. It’s just bleak.”
A lot of those who visited Manna from Above were Trump voters, the Times reported, and for them, according to Deal, regret exists.
“A lot of people went by what Trump said,” Deal said. “Now, people want to change their minds, but it’s too late.”
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