Advocates for lower income people say 1.5 million Ohioans are approaching a food crisis because of the federal government shutdown.
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks says people have access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, through February. But unless the government reopens, there’s no more money coming from the feds after that.
“What they have now, they need to last as long, get them to stretch as long as possible,” Hamler-Fugitt said.
Hamler-Fugitt says this is already an unfair task given SNAP benefits usually only last three weeks.
She says emergency food sources, such as food banks, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters are already feeling a strain with more people coming in because they’re going unpaid.
