Will my food stamps renew? Across the country, a chorus of desperation and anger. Aria BendixOctober 31, 2025 at 8:06 PM 1 Valerie Buck after visiting Stewpot, a local food pantry, in Jackson, Miss., on Thursday. (Imani Khayyam for NBC News) It has been a tumultuous week for the roughly 42 million people across the country who rely on federal food assistance. Some breathed a tentative sigh of relief Friday afternoon after a Rhode Island judge ordered the Trump administration to keep funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, nationwide.
- - Will my food stamps renew? Across the country, a chorus of desperation and anger.
Aria BendixOctober 31, 2025 at 8:06 PM
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Valerie Buck after visiting Stewpot, a local food pantry, in Jackson, Miss., on Thursday. (Imani Khayyam for NBC News)
It has been a tumultuous week for the roughly 42 million people across the country who rely on federal food assistance.
Some breathed a tentative sigh of relief Friday afternoon after a Rhode Island judge ordered the Trump administration to keep funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, nationwide.
The Agriculture Department had warned that it would no longer pay for the benefits, commonly known as food stamps, starting Nov. 1 because Congress has failed to pass legislation to fund the government. The judge, however, told the administration it must distribute contingency funding for the program as soon as possible.
But much remains unknown: President Donald Trump said Friday evening on Truth Social that he had "instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible." Even if the federal government issues the funding, many states are already behind schedule, and it's highly unlikely that anyone who was expecting their SNAP benefits to renew this weekend will get them on time.
After the stressful week they've spent rationing food, collecting donations at food banks and preparing their families to survive on less, several SNAP recipients said they're not yet changing course.
"People still have to figure out ways to do things while this all blows over," said Danielle Sulton, a single mother of five in Mississippi, who would face an $833 gap without SNAP. She's picking up gig shifts delivering Amazon packages this weekend to make sure her family doesn't go without.
"We have been back and forth with Trump," Sulton said.
In interviews over the last week, 18 SNAP recipients across 11 states — including a preschool teacher, a disabled father, a pregnant mother and a Navy veteran — told NBC News about the painful choices they would have to make if they lost food assistance. Never before have so many households faced the sudden threat that their benefits will be disrupted; the SNAP program has not lapsed during previous government shutdowns.
Danielle Sulton outside a Salvation Army in Jackson, Miss., on Thursday. (Imani Khayyam for NBC News)
In Wisconsin, Carmen Hernandez told her four children that they may need to get by on just beans and tortillas. In Mississippi, Valerie Buck collected donations from a food pantry to feed her family of 10. In Indiana, Matthew Corbett, who has $1.04 left in his SNAP account, was prepared to sell his TV for food money.
"Why do I have to pick between paying for day care or paying for a meal for my daughter?" said Lucia Graves, a single mother in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Shrinking meals and growing food pantry lines
The threat of a SNAP cutoff has brought renewed attention to the desperate, day-to-day struggle to make ends meet for America's most vulnerable people. To qualify, recipients' incomes must generally be at or below 130% of the federal poverty line — less than $35,000 a year for a family of three. At least 12% of the population relies on this food assistance, including many elderly and disabled people, as well as low-income parents working full or part time.
The federal budget at the heart of the standoff between Republicans and Democrats in Congress includes $186 billion in cuts to SNAP programs over the next decade, the largest funding reductions in the program's history. Nonprofit organizations have already been straining to fill the gaps amid higher food prices and recent cuts to federal funding by the Trump administration.
Many of the SNAP recipients interviewed said that without their benefits, they would only have enough food for about two or three days before they'd need to turn to charities or put off paying bills.
Volunteers at the Lutheran Settlement House pack bags of groceries Thursday to distribute to the local community in Philadelphia. (Matthew Hatcher / AFP - Getty Images)
In Lolita Arnold's pantry, the main contents are a can of beef, one package of stew, a box of Corn Flakes cereal, a bag of dried lentils and some grapes. That was the result of an hourslong food pantry line at a church in Huntington, West Virginia, earlier this week.
Breakfast on Thursday for Arnold, 60, was a cup of coffee and a banana, dinner was mashed potatoes with canned gravy.
"That's going to have to hold me until the next day, then I'll go from there," she said.
Arnold is expecting $145 in monthly food stamp benefits to become available on her electronic benefits card Nov. 6. If that doesn't happen, she doesn't have an easy way to return to the food bank: Arnold's car has broken down. She's been looking for work, possibly in housekeeping, but hasn't had any luck.
Even if she could get to one, many food banks are reporting overwhelming demand.
A resident browses donated food items in the pantry at Feeding South Florida in Pembroke Park on Friday. (Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"We were already seeing the highest need that we've ever seen in our 42-year history," said Claire Neal, CEO of MANNA FoodBank, which serves residents of western North Carolina. "There is really staggering need in our area, and then you layer on top of it the crisis of the shutdown and what it will mean to not have SNAP benefits."
This week, the Salvation Army in Jackson, Mississippi, served nearly twice as many households as it did during the entire month of September, according to Ashley Cowards, a social service worker there.
Sulton, 32, showed up at that Salvation Army location for the first time Thursday.
"Got to keep fighting," she said, after placing the donations in her car. "Looks like I'm going to fight even harder."
Children to feed
Other parents on SNAP have been bracing for the possibility of skipping their own meals in order to feed their children.
Corbett, a 41-year-old father in Austin, Indiana, said his family's $618 in monthly SNAP benefits are due to renew Nov. 7. If the payment is even a day late, he said, hunger is a possibility.
The court ruling on Friday was "a little bit of stress off the plate," Corbett said — it brought his stress level from an 11 to a 6 or 7.
Corbett was driven out of the workforce by debilitating back and joint pain, likely exacerbated by his job as a forklift driver. His 5-year-old son has nonverbal autism and requires constant care. His wife, Emily, recently lost her part-time job at a gas station, he said, leaving the family without their only source of income.
If their SNAP benefits don't arrive on time, he and Emily plan to survive off a 24-pack of ramen noodles to make sure their son gets enough food.
"No matter what, he will get fed," Corbett said.
The food pantry at Stewpot in Jackson, Miss. (Imani Khayyam for NBC News)
Buck, in Mississippi, is pregnant and expecting her ninth child in February. She and her husband both work — Buck is part-time at McDonald's — and rely on SNAP funds to feed their kids.
"I'm praying," Buck, 36, said as she wheeled a cart with eggs, ramen noodles, chicken wings, a frozen pizza, cereal and a pineapple from a local food pantry called Stewpot on Thursday.
Disabled and unable to work
Nationwide, 4 in 5 SNAP households include a child, an elderly person or someone with a disability. Non-elderly people with disabilities make up around 10% of SNAP participants.
Devorah Yelton, a retiree in Tucson, Arizona, worked for 20 years supervising group homes for adults with cognitive disabilities. For many severely disabled people who can't work or live independently, she said, food stamps are the only way to get fed.
"I know the firsthand effect this is going to have on the population of people I served for my whole career," she said ahead of the court ruling.
When the decision came down on Friday, Yelton called it a relief but added that "until the decision is final, that underlying stress won't go away."
Her own son Andrew, who has autism, is unable to work. At 38, he lives on his own and relies on a combination of SNAP and Social Security.
Because Andrew was in the process of getting his $197 in monthly benefits renewed in September, the government shutdown already delayed his October funds. November's are still a question.
"To see him scared like this is heartbreaking. He's calling me all the time. His anxiety is through the roof," Yelton said.
Volunteers at Stewpot in Jackson, Miss., prep lunch everyday for those needing food. (Imani Khayyam for NBC News)No Thanksgiving, no Christmas?
This week, some governors announced that they would use emergency funds to support food banks if SNAP funding lapsed. A group of 25 Democratic state leaders also sued the Agriculture Department — a separate case from the one in Rhode Island — arguing that the USDA is required to use contingency funds to keep SNAP running during a shutdown. A Massachusetts judge said the Democrats' case is likely to be successful but gave the Trump administration until Monday to decide whether to authorize SNAP benefits for November.
If food stamps aren't issued soon, a dark and dismal holiday season could loom for many.
Desiree Kenney, who lives in Emmett, Idaho, relies on $215 in SNAP benefits per month. The only food she has left is a pack of chicken, a roast, a few vegetables, pasta and rice. She thinks that will last her and her aunt, with whom she lives, just a few days.
"Thanksgiving is coming, and what are we gonna do for that?" Kenney said.
Desiree Kenny. (Desiree Kenny)
She has been hoping to have a small Thanksgiving for her two adult children and two grandchildren but isn't sure whether that will be possible.
Hernandez, a preschool teacher in Wisconsin, said that in anticipation of a disruption to her SNAP benefits, she used the $100 or so she had left over this month to stock up on meat, canned vegetables, beans and tuna.
Carmen Hernandez. (Carmen Hernandez)
If her card isn't reloaded, she plans to use her small Christmas savings on groceries instead of presents for her four children, ages 11 to 17.
"Any type of Christmas celebration will not look the same because I'm having to make sure that food comes first for these guys," she said. "It's hard being a parent and having your kids see you struggle."
Aria Bendix reported from New York City, Shannon Pettypiece from Washington, D.C., and Bracey Harris from Jackson, Mississippi.
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