It's a busy day at St. Joseph's food pantry in Grand Forks, and director JoAnn Brundin says it's been this way for a while.
"For the year we are at a 13 percent increase. In August we served 409 families and gave out 50 thousand pounds of food. So our cupboards are a little bare, our storage is empty,” said St. Joseph’s Social Care Director, JoAnn Brundin.
And St. Joseph's could be hurting even more if some lawmakers get their way, as the House Budget is looking to reform the SNAP program, formerly known as the food stamp program, and reduce funding by 150 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
"I think it would hit us really hard. We are still seeing new clients every month in our food pantry that have not used us this year or never used our pantry before. So if all these cuts hit I think it will affect us a great deal. We have already had to cut back on the amount of food we can give people because of what we have. I can’t imagine what it will do to us,” said Brundin.
So St. Joseph's is hoping lawmakers have a change of heart.
"A lot of the people that we are serving are vulnerable adults, children who can’t go out and earn money to create meals for themselves. That to me is the bigger issue. We are living in the breadbasket of America but we have kids who are going hungry in our community. It just doesn’t make sense,” said Fayme Stringer-Henry, of St. Joseph’s Social Care.
65% or more of the clients at St. Joseph's are on the SNAP program, according to St. Joseph's. As for lawmakers, they will make their decision on the budget next Thursday, October 5th.
