As the government shutdown stretches into day 36, delayed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits remain top of mind for millions of Americans, including near 2 million here in Illinois.
After two separate court challenges, the Trump administration announced Monday it would tap into a $4.65 billion contingency fund to partially fund SNAP benefits for November, which are already several days late.
But when those balances will arrive is uncertain, leaving many people relying on alternatives or facing difficult choices while they wait.
Food banks and community pantries in the Chicago area are doing what they can, and even local restaurants have stepped up in recent days to offer free meals for those in need.
And then there’s the neighbors and community members on the hyper local level, going above and beyond.
People like Alicia Spradley.
We met Alicia during a quick break at a local coffee shop in Chicago’s Roger’s Park neighborhood. It’s where she fields calls and organizes logistics for a small network of Good Samaritans called “grocery buddies.”
“A grocery buddy is where you find someone who’s in need of groceries, and someone who’s willing to provide those groceries for them,” she told NBC Chicago.
Spradley founded her non-profit “Plate & Pathways” in 2022 to address hunger for people experiencing homelessness in Rogers Park. But amid the need for help created by the government shutdown, she’s shifted and expanded her focus.
“We go to Rogers Park, Edgewater, Evanston, and Uptown,” she said. Between 75 and 100 people have reached out to her since the shutdown started. She’s even getting calls to help find grocery buddies in other states.
Alicia uses delivery services like Instacart and other times she makes the runs herself, like she did Wednesday with her daughter’s help.
They searched Morse Fresh Market in Roger’s Park for food items and diapers. The first of many runs she planned that day.
“We are just here to do whatever it is that we can do. This is something that we didn’t expect,” she said.
Alicia said the community response has been great.
“The gratitude has been overwhelming,” she said. “It swells my heart.”
Federal workers are also facing the realities of another Friday without a paycheck, even with cautious optimism from Washington of a resolution in the coming days.
In West Loop Wednesday, furloughed EPA workers with AFGE Local 704 spent their day handing out lunch to fellow federal employees.
Monday they were serving lunch to TSA workers at Midway Airport. Wednesday they were at the Social Security Administration.
“They’ve had to commute into the office every single one of those workdays. And many of them are running low on funds,” said executive vice president Loreen Targos. “So it was important for us to spend our time creating meals. We’re grateful to the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Elgin that helped us put these meals together,” she said.
Loreen is frustrated, and wants to get back to doing the work she loves; protecting the Great Lakes. In the meantime, it’s important for her to show solidary, she said.
She and other union members made the chicken cacciatore that accompanied the Italian sandwiches they handed out.
AFGE Local 704 represents about 1,000 furlough Illinois EPA workers, most of them in the Chicago area. The SSA workers they provided meals for Wednesday are required to come into work, many of them struggling to pay for childcare and transportation, she said.
Jill Hornick is an administrative director with F.O. AFGE Local 1395.
“The majority of Social Security Administration employees could be home teleworking and successfully perform their jobs,” Hornick said.
“But they’re being forced to used their own funds which they’re running out of because they’re not being paid, to come to this building,” she said. “So they’re being put in the position of do you put food on the table, do you take care of your kids, do you take care of your pets, or do you pay for transportation to the office?”
The food Loreen and her team prepped Wednesday was poised to run out, with some people taking extras home.
“They’re going to be taking two meals, so they can have dinner as well,” Loreen said.
On Friday they’ll be back downtown, handing out lunch for federal workers at the Bureau of Prisons.
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