SPOKANE, Wash. — Residents and food pantries in Spokane are preparing for the end of emergency assistance benefits.
At the end of February, emergency SNAP benefits implemented in response to the pandemic will end for Washingtonians. The benefits have already ceased in Idaho.
This change is one Spokane's Second Harvest is working hard to prepare for.
"It's something of a cliff because that's gonna go away for a lot of people," said Eric Williams, the community partnership director for Second Harvest. "Anywhere from $90 to, say, $200 less they'll have a month."
Those cuts run deeper, according to Williams. Food banks are reporting demand increases of 20% to 40%, while Second Harvest's food supply has decreased by one-third.
"In the teeth of the pandemic you almost had to walk like this because we had so much food," Williams said, inching along a wall of boxed food to demonstrate how packed the warehouse was just two years ago.
All that food goes out to food pantries and banks like Off Broadway's hub on Mallon. There, more and more people are seeking help, and more and more people are feeling the uncertainty of the cuts.
"Gone," John Kaeser said. "Gone. This month is the last I get it."
Kaeser has been coming to the hub for three years.
"Religiously," he smiled.
He's also been getting an extra boost of around $100 in SNAP benefits every month; the emergency allotments started in 2020.
"After buying groceries on the first when I get my food stamps, I get my assistance, I'm like, 'Aww man, I still have all kinds of stuff I need to get. Thank god I still got $95 coming tomorrow,'" he said.
Kaeser's already looking ahead to when he loses the extra benefits and wondering how he'll make up the difference.
"With the cost of everything going up and interest and all that, it's like, 'Help!'" he said.
It's hard to know what's coming, but Williams has a pretty good view.
"It's going to be really difficult not only for us and everyone we work with," he said. "But most most importantly for the people who rely on those benefits."
"Well, I'm not a quitter. Survival's number one," Kaezer said. "Yeah. Where there's a will, there's a way."
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