As SNAP questions linger, SC fund distributes $233K to help food banks stock up

COLUMBIA — A week into a fundraising campaign to help stock shelves, South Carolina’s disaster relief fund provided nearly $233,000 to food banks amid continued uncertainty on when federal grocery assistance will resume.

One SC Fund’s first distribution Monday to the state’s four regional food banks came two days after a halt of benefits in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The amount raised so far is a fraction of the normal aid provided through the program commonly called food stamps.

With the impending suspension of grocery benefits for 550,000 South Carolinians, Gov. Henry McMaster last Tuesday activated the fund, which collects donations during emergencies to supplement what the government doesn’t cover. McMaster also directed the volunteer State Guard to help unload truckloads of food and ensure safety at food pantries.

On Friday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that pausing SNAP during the federal government shutdown violated the law. In his order, U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell ordered federal officials to issue payments, which stopped Saturday as the program ran out of regular funding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the national program, said it would pay about half of November’s benefits from a contingency fund but added the bureaucracy involved could hold up the payments for weeks or months.

Adding to the confusion, President Donald Trump posted on social media Tuesday that SNAP payments would resume “only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt seemed to walk that back by saying Trump was referring to future uses of the contingency fund, and the USDA wrote in a court filing later Tuesday that it continues planning for partial payments, States Newsroom reported.

The state Department of Social Services has not received any guidance from the USDA, spokeswoman Connelly-Anne Ragley told the SC Daily Gazette on Tuesday.

State officials never touch the federal money, so it’s impossible for the agency to simply upload any amount, she said. DSS determines whether a person is eligible, and the USDA transfers the benefits to the debit cards used for purchases through a third-party vendor.

Typically, SNAP benefits go out to recipients on a staggered schedule over the course of the first 19 days of each month, according to a chart provided to the Gazette.

By Oct. 4, 54,100 people had received their benefits, meaning a similar number of people have not yet gotten their monthly allotment of SNAP for this month. In total, close to 550,000 people across 264,000 households received SNAP benefits last month, according to DSS data.

Another federal feeding benefit — the Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program — will continue as usual, said Department of Public Health spokesman Casey White. The White House’s budget office pulled from tariff revenue to continue covering the cost of benefits for pregnant and breastfeeding women and their young children, White said in an email.

Nearly 99,000 women and children used the supplemental funding in August to buy baby food, formula and other grocery staples, according to the agency’s most recently available data.

Donations

In the past week, a record number of people donated to the One SC Fund to help make up for the lost SNAP benefits, said Georgia Mjartan, president and CEO of the Central Carolina Community Foundation, which operates the fund. As of Monday evening, 562 donors contributed a total of $232,550, she said.

But the total remains far below what the state would need to cover food benefits for every household receiving SNAP benefits. Last month, the federal benefit doled out close to $105 million in South Carolina, for an average of about $400 per household (or $190 per person), according to DSS.

Officials acknowledged the fund was unlikely to come close to covering the entire gap.

The most the One SC Fund has ever collected after a disaster was about $6.2 million following Tropical Storm Helene last year. Unlike that more concentrated disaster, the pause in SNAP benefits affected millions of people nationwide, meaning officials are expecting fewer of the grants and large corporate donations that typically make up most of the donations following natural disasters, Mjartan said.

“This is nowhere near what we’d hoped to be able to deliver to our food banks and food pantries,” Mjartan said.

Duke Energy made the one major donation to come in so far, she said. The utility company gave $100,000 as part of an annual initiative to make sure people have food ahead of Thanksgiving. The utility plans to donate another $500,000 to local food banks and other organizations providing food to hungry people throughout the month, according to a news release.

“These organizations are fighting the good fight every day in communities across our state, but they cannot do it alone,” Tim Pearson, the utility’s South Carolina president, said in the release. “Duke Energy is happy to stand with the governor, and we encourage other corporate entities, organizations and citizens across the state to help support the fight against hunger.”

Initially, the fund planned to give some money to smaller food banks as well, but officials quickly realized the money wasn’t coming in at the same rate as the applications for help. In three days, 45 organizations submitted applications, and another 28 had started one before the fund closed the application window, Mjartan said.

Some of the applicants wanted to fill in gaps the big food banks can’t, Mjartan said. One would have delivered food to low-income people with disabilities that make them unable to leave the house or stand in long food bank lines. Another would have brought specialized food items to children with disabilities that require certain diets, she said.

“The applications that are waiting in the queue are very compelling and meeting people in the community’s very basic needs,” Mjartan said. “But we’re not able to fund them because the dollars aren’t there.”

Restaurants step up

Donating money isn’t the only way to help, state officials said during a news conference last week.

Proving that point, some restaurants are offering free meals until SNAP benefits return.

Nicky’s Pizzeria in Lexington and Luca’s Wood Fire Pizza & Restaurant in Columbia are offering free to-go meals for children whose parents show their SNAP cards and IDs, the restaurants said in Facebook posts. At Luca’s Wood Fire Pizza, customers have the option to purchase an extra meal the pizzeria will hand out to anyone who visits and tells a manager they are affected by the SNAP cutoff, according to a social media post.

Bubba’s Pub-N-Grub, also in Lexington, is donating hot dogs, chili and chips to families who typically receive SNAP and furloughed federal employees every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Elgin’s Eatery 117 will give anyone affected by the government shutdown leftover yogurt parfaits, overnight oats, muffins and other grab-and-go items on Sundays after closing, the cafe said in a Facebook post.

All six Charleston Sports Pub locations across the state are offering free meals for children. As are Coconut Joe’s Beach Grill, Lawrence’s Seafood Company and The Shelter Kitchen and Bar, according to parent company Perry Hospitality Group.

North Charleston’s Good Vibes Only 843 has free children’s meals available, and Bangin’ Vegan Eats food truck in Charleston is offering free bean burgers with a side of fries to anyone who orders the SNAP burger.

During a Monday night town hall, Rep. JA Moore collected enough nonperishable food to create meals for about 100 families, which he donated to Blessed Hands Food Pantry in Goose Creek, he said.

The North Charleston Democrat, who owns a catering company, said he and other Charleston County Democrats plan to continue directing nonperishable items and money to local food banks and urged people to drop off donations if they’re able.

“I’ve spent my entire career feeding people through my restaurant and my catering business, and now this is another way of doing that,” Moore said.