With federal food benefits being halted in November amid the government shutdown, Ladonna Causly isn’t sure how she’s going to feed herself and her 1-year-old son, Lee.

The $490 a month she receives from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is normally enough to feed them both. Now she’s scrambling to find alternatives.

“Probably gotta go to a church (food pantry) and try to see what they have, if they even have anything,” Causly said Wednesday, Oct. 29. “Sometimes they don’t have food. So I feel like it’s just a lot. I hope they do have food.”

Impending loss of SNAP benefits leaves some wondering how they will eat

The federal government shut down Oct. 1 after Congress missed the deadline to fund federal agencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees SNAP, also known as food stamps, said it cannot keep covering food costs for participants. 

Causly is among more than 150,000 people in Shelby County who receive SNAP benefits, many of whom are turning to local food pantries.

But food pantry administrators said Wednesday that they are expecting a dire combination throughout the next few days and weeks: more hungry Memphians searching for food in pantries that are already understocked.

“I’m seeing just continual calls at the reception desk for people asking about food pantries,” said Russell Walker of St. John’s Church at Peabody Avenue and Bellevue Boulevard, which operates one of the city’s larger food programs for those in need. “It’s continuous. I got in this morning at 7:30, and they’ve been continuous since then.”

In addition to the lack of federal SNAP funds, Republican governors in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi have all said they won’t use state funds to supplement the program. Other states have committed to using state money, including Minnesota, where Democratic Gov. Tim Walz authorized $4 million in emergency funding.

As of September 2025, Tennessee has 690,629 SNAP recipients. Shelby County has by far the largest number of recipients in the state, with more than 152,000 receiving SNAP benefits. Nashville’s Davidson County is second with about 60,000 recipients.

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St. Patrick’s Church Downtown has one of the largest food programs for those in need in Memphis, offering a pantry, hot meals, sack lunches and more.

On a typical Tuesday, the pantry serves about 25 people, with each person typically supporting at least three family members, said Gene Mangiante, director of the church’s Champion Outreach Center.

But on Tuesday, Oct. 28, the numbers doubled and the pantry barely had enough food for everyone, Mangiante said.

“Yesterday, we saw 51 individuals who came to get food,” he said. “We cut it pretty close.”

This loss of SNAP benefits has left food pantries, many of which are in churches and neighborhood centers across the city, begging for help in anticipation of the growing need.

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They are asking their congregations and communities to scour their cabinets for any nonperishable items they can donate to try to beef up their stores for the next month. They’re also asking for financial contributions to buy more food.

Catholic Charities sent out an emergency request for donations this week, seeking to raise $30,000.

“We are already seeing an influx of people coming to our campus in search of help, and we are working closely with local partners to increase support,” the request said. “Over the next 30 days, we plan to increase our emergency food services by at least 30% to meet the growing need, but we cannot do it alone.

At St. Patrick’s, parishioners have begun bringing in food and money, Mangiante said.

“A parishioner brought a huge number of canned goods, and he also brought 5-pound bags of sugar and 5-pound bags of flour,” said Mangiante, who estimated that his congregation has also donated more than $1,000 so far. “A young lady this morning brought me 10 turkeys. Another woman on Sunday brought in two large boxes of canned goods that she collected in her neighborhood.”

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Carolyn Galloway oversees the pantry at St. Luke’s Church at 480 S. Highland St. The pantry is only open two days a month, but each time, more than 100 people line up for food.

On Oct. 23, as word spread about the SNAP situation, so many people came to the pantry, they ran out of food and had to turn some folks away.

“We have other churches that support us,” she said. “We’re going to just have to ask the churches to donate more food if they can. And (we’ll) spend more money.”

Normally, many of these pantries buy food from the Mid-South Food Bank, where Galloway said they only pay $.14 a pound for everything, whether it’s meat, soup or canned vegetables.

But both Galloway and Mangiante said the Food Bank has been struggling to fill orders lately.

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“The Food Bank is just really low on food right now,” Galloway said. “When we order food, there used to be six or seven pages of food to choose from. And this week, there were two and a half pages, and it wasn’t even all food. It was like diapers and stuff that you can’t eat. 

“Now, we’re having to go to Costco and grocery stores and places like that to buy stuff because the Food Bank doesn’t have enough,” she said. “But it just costs so much more when we have to go to the store and buy it ourselves instead of getting it from the Food Bank.”

Food Bank President Scott Fortin did not return messages this week to discuss his organization’s food supply levels. Attempts to reach several other officials there were also unsuccessful.

Mangiante said he’s talked to Fortin about the struggles the Food Bank is facing and believes cuts in federal funding have impacted the organization.

“The Food Bank probably gives most of the food to the pantries in the Mid-South,” he said. “They have been severely cut in their budget, probably starting in January and February, by federal cuts. (Fortin) is very concerned, but he has trouble getting food, too. They’re short, too.”