Teisha Matthews is pushing a cart full of produce on a sunny morning at the Rochester Public Market. With just days before federal SNAP benefits — formerly known as food stamps — are likely to be halted, she’s shopping for her mother who is disabled and receives public assistance.
“I got her some pineapples, some collard greens, some cabbage, some potatoes, some onions, some oranges, some grapes,” Matthews said. “What else did I get? Some carrots, some string beans and some sweet potatoes. You can make a meal out of it, you know? And what you don't use today, you can always clean up and freeze for another time.”
With SNAP benefits on hold starting Saturday, Matthews said she's got to figure out how she’s going to help her mother. They may turn to food cupboards and other community resources.
"She's not able to go out, so that puts a lot on me,” she said. “I can't let her starve.”
Ahead of Saturday, people who receive that federal assistance, like Matthews’ family, are stocking up on necessities — about 104,000 people in Monroe County. Officials have said that any remaining funds on electronic benefit cards will not expire Saturday and will remain available for use.
Food vendors at the Public Market, like Jeremy Haberger, are preparing for a possible loss of revenue.
“Going into November, I feel it's gonna cost me probably $20,000 a week with that program not being up.” Haberger said. “I'm probably at $700,000 this year in food stamps total at the Public Market. It's a lot, you know, and it's gonna hurt.”
Haberger is considering staff layoffs to account for the loss in revenue from shoppers who use federal food assistance to pay for their groceries.The fruits and vegetables themselves could also become casualties.
“The tomatoes, I'm not going to sell as many. So now, how do you get more when you can't sell them because that food stamp is not there, the SNAP benefit?" He said. “It's going to go in the garbage.”
That local economic hit is something he says food vendors and groceries stores are bracing for as the government shutdown continues, and November SNAP benefits are suspended.
“It's going to put a lot of hurting on different companies. The potatoes, same thing, I usually bring, like on a Tuesday today, I brought 80 bags of the 20-pounders, 50 of the 50-pounders. Without having the SNAP, I'm a cut it down to 20 of each. That's it, because they ain't gonna have the money to buy.”
That local economic hit is something he says food vendors and groceries stores are bracing for as the government shutdown continues, and November SNAP benefits are suspended.
The Public Market also participates in a program that stretches those dollars further. Recipients of SNAP can use their electronic benefits cards to purchase Farmers Market tokens through the Friends of the Rochester Public Market, which they can use to buy food from vendors. Because of New York state's Farmers Market Nutrition Program, they also receive vouchers to use for produce.
Kerry Kiefer used those same tokens and vouchers to pay for her groceries. She received a text — just as Matthews' mother had — notifying her that the SNAP program would be suspended come Nov. 1.
“The reason I'm here today actually is because of that text,” Kiefer said. “Because I'm afraid they'll take the money that's on the card off before the first and you never know what's going on. What if they do that? So, I want to stock up on groceries today.”
This is not the first time she's needed to rely on public assistance to survive, she said.
“When my daughters were young, I needed it because I had a daughter with cancer and I was divorced, so I had three little girls, so it was important at that time because I had to stay home and care for her,” Kiefer said. “That would have been like 2004. So it was very helpful back then. Food stamps aren't something that I'm proud of, but it's just needed right now.”
The process isn’t easy to navigate either, she said. She recently submitted tax returns and bank statements as part of an investigation that appeared to be routine.
“They just want to see that you're broke or how much money you've made in the past," she said. "It was kind of intrusive, but I did it.”
