INDIANAPOLIS — Now three weeks into the government shutdown, an extremely vulnerable population in Indiana could be at risk.
Indiana is just shy of one million Hoosiers who don't know where their next meal will come from.
And of those one million, nearly 600,000 receive food stamps. But if the political standoff continues, those people could lose that important chunk of money.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is funded through January, but the emergency fund won't cover everyone's February food stamps if the government is shut down.
"Not having access to benefits going into the month of February is tantamount to people who are risk of hunger feel all the time," executive director of "Feeding Indiana's Hungry," Emily Weikert Bryant, said.
"They don't know if that next paycheck is going to be big enough. They don't know if they're going to get the hours. Well now they don't know or they wouldn't know come February whether they're going to have access to snap benefits."
When that happens, food banks like St. Vincent de Paul on the east side will start to feel the pinch — forcing them to find more donations.
The pantry's executive director, Peter Zubler, says more than half of the 10,000 people that come through each week have jobs and receive SNAP benefits.
"In between the first and the 15th when my check arrives, I try to make sure the refrigerator isn't baron so that I know what can go on the table next," St. Vincent de Paul client, Bopp Nadig, said.
Advocates say filling this need is crucial.
And Bryant says, "We are just going to continue to work on their behalf, to talk to members of Congress, to talk to the public, to make sure that folks who are in Washington understand that this shutdown is impacting real people."
The Indiana state Association of food Banks says they're waiting for USDA to issue guidance, should the shutdown continue into next month.
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