WACO — Bob Gager directed traffic Tuesday afternoon around Renew Church as motorists lined up for boxes of groceries, many of them anxious about the impending loss of federal food aid.
The cutoff of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits due to the federal government shutdown will affect some 42 million SNAP recipients starting Saturday. That includes more than 31,000 in McLennan County, which is above state and national averages in food insecurity.
Shepherd’s Heart, the food ministry Gager founded and runs, has seen a growing wave of demand in recent weeks, as have other local food banks and pantries. Gager expects that by Saturday, his ministry will have served 105,000 families this year — as much as the entirety of 2024.
“So I don’t know where we’re going,” Gager said.
Other local food organizations, such as Caritas, the McLennan Community College pantry and Family of Faith Worship, are also seeing runs on their supplies. Those programs largely depend on the Austin-based Central Texas Food Bank, which has felt the impact of federal cuts this year.
McLennan County had 31,705 SNAP enrollees as of August, and about two-thirds were children or seniors, according to the Waco-based Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty. The average SNAP household here gets $356 per month in benefits.
McLennan County as a whole has a food insecurity rate of 18-20%, compared with 13% statewide, said Jeremy Everett, founder and executive director of the center.
“You’re not talking about people that can go, just pick up an extra shift at work,” Everett said. “You’re talking about children, you’re talking about seniors who are living on fixed incomes. And so we know that those are going to be the people that everybody’s going to get hit hard by this.”
Those affected include the family of Stefanie Wheat-Johnson, a Truett Seminary student. She works part-time and her husband works full-time at a restaurant, and they are raising three children.
She said she and her husband hoped the food stamp program would help them temporarily as they juggled raising children, going to school and working.
“That was, at that moment, a hope for us that was like, ‘Okay, we can make me being in graduate school and working part-time work,’ ” Wheat-Johnson said.
“But as inflation has risen the last couple of years, … day-to-day expenses have gotten greater.
I have children who are growing and have different needs. … The clothing costs more, shoes cost more. And as they get older, those extracurricular fees and all those things start adding up.”
The average household receives $356 per month from SNAP benefits. About $5.3 million is spent in McLennan County in grocery stores from these benefits, Everett said.
“Without that resource that means people will likely be missing meals,” Everett said.
Wheat-Johnson’s family of five receives $385 a month, about enough to cover one week and a half of its food bill.
Wheat-Johnson and her husband receive two paychecks twice a month. However, one week per month, they receive no paycheck, and during this gap week, the family relies on SNAP to buy groceries and gets creative on paying other bills.
“We have already been chasing our tails trying to keep up with rent and utilities for the last year, because everything is getting more expensive,” Wheat-Johnson said. “And we’re always, as so many Americans are, one disaster away from draining your emergency fund or paycheck zero, right? And we’re financially educated people. It’s not like we haven’t been trying to do this for a few years.”
Wheat-Johnson has been able to receive support through various pantries such as Caritas and Shepherd’s Heart in the past. As a Baylor student she is also able to get free meals from events and a community fridge. She has been able to lean on her community and her church amid fears about SNAP.
“But the reality is churches cannot fully stand in the gap there for a number of reasons,” Wheat-Johnson said. “In my opinion, I want them to, that’s part of my Christian ethic. I want to live a simple life in service of others. I want to care for the least of these. That’s what Scripture tells us to do. But the irony is, I’m one of them.”
The Waco area has other food ministries large and small that are attempting to stand in the gap.
Paulette’s Pantry at McLennan Community College has seen 30 to 40 new visitors in October, triple the new visitors it usually gets in this month, said Aranza Torres, MCC CREW project director.
She said the new demand comes after Central Texas Food Bank had to cut back on their shipments due to federal cuts.
“We’re seeing less protein, less legumes, not as much of a selection of certain canned foods,” Torres said. “And so it’s just more challenging to know what to get. We are seeing more produce, which we like, but some of our students don’t necessarily know how to cook.”
The majority of MCC’s students are from working-class families, and about one-third of students are parents themselves. To help students make good use of food from the pantry, Torres has recipe cards available.
More than half of MCC’s students have a part-time job, sometimes helping to support their families. Students struggle with financial difficulties, evictions and job losses, Torres said.
“Students are struggling to get new employment, falling behind in keeping up with payments,” Torres said. “So just like an increase in finding and keeping up with financial capacity has been difficult.”
MCC was planning this week to order more food ahead of the benefits running out for SNAP recipients. However, the pantry has limited space. The pantry has two additional commercial fridges and two additional commercial freezers.
Caritas, a long-established charity that serves clients Monday through Friday at its food pantry, at 300 S. 15th St., has also noticed an increase in clients in the last few months and even more in the past week.
In the last few months, Caritas has seen an increase of 88 to 100 new clients per day over the 200 to 250 it previously served, said Janie Roman, director of programs.
Family of Faith Worship Center offers onsite and mobile pantries, serving 1,600 families a month. The church has seen a 90% increase in clients in the past week.
In the last few weeks, the church has been stocking its warehouse, contacting retailers and partners to prepare for the increased demand.
“It’s really going to hit us pretty severely, because the overwhelming number — I would probably say at least 80% — of those that come to the food pantry already are those who receive SNAP,” said Family of Faith Pastor Ruben Andrade.
Many of the people Andrade sees through the church’s distribution events and pantry use the church as a resource to supplement what they receive from SNAP.
“So now they’re going to have $0 and they’re going to depend on us, not only one time a week, but perhaps multiple times a week,” Andrade said. The church at 4112 Memorial Drive is adding three additional food distribution dates. The church will be distributing food from 8:30 a.m. to noon next Tuesday and Thursday. There will also be a distribution date at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, located at 9997 S. 3rd St. Rd, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m..
Andrade has seen largely working-class people come to the church’s distribution events. He has heard from people who are stressed about not receiving food stamps.
“It’s a high stress level right now, a very high stress level,” said Andrade. “And so we’re just trying to take it one, one week at a time, letting them know that we’re here for them, to help them in whatever way we can.”
Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news.
