Where to get food and how to support the hungry when SNAP is paused Saturday

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will run out of money Nov. 1 as a result of the nearly month-long government shut down. The Trump administration said it won’t use reserve funds to keep the program running and benefits will be cut off.     

SNAP is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance to low- and no-income people and families. As of September, 1,283 Lexington residents rely on SNAP for food, according to the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance. 

Over 1.1 million Massachusetts residents rely on the program — 32 percent are children, 26 percent are seniors, and 31 percent are people with disabilities. About 42 million Americans use SNAP. 

People who have a balance on their SNAP cards can still use those credits, but cards will not be reloaded on Nov. 1 like they normally are at the beginning of each month. 

“The sad thing is, there is a real focus right now on the need for food assistance that’s been brought about by all of the chaos that we’re facing and the last thing people who need food assistance need is more chaos in their lives,” Leslie Wilcott-Henrie, president of board of the Lexington Farmers’ Market, which runs a SNAP matching program, told the Observer. 

Trump’s administration implemented additional restrictions to SNAP eligibility under his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed in July. Those changes will result in over 150,000 Massachusetts residents having their SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated. 

Trump is the first president to pause SNAP, which started during the Great Depression, because of a shutdown.

“[Trump] is forcing millions of people – children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities – into hunger, raising costs, and hurting local farmers and businesses. He is choosing to do this. President Trump needs to reverse this decision and restore SNAP benefits,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.

Lexington residents will likely rely more on food donation centers such as the Lexington Food Pantry, which operates out of the Church of Our Redeemer at 6 Meriam St., after Nov. 1. 

The pantry helps about 140 Lexington families, or between 400 and 500 people, including about 130 children, Carolyn Wortman, Lexington Food Pantry coordinator, told the Observer.

The food pantry is open for curb-side pickup every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To get food from the pantry, customers must fill out an online form before 10 a.m. on Friday, or they must fill out a form at the church when they arrive to get food on Saturdays. 

“We’re open on Saturdays because we figure that if people work and may not be making enough money and have to come to us, we don’t want them to be not taking advantage of us because they’re working,” Wortman said. 

If people want to donate to the Lexington Food pantry, there are a few ways to do so. Wortman said the best way to support the pantry is by donating money. That way the workers can use the donation to get exactly what they’re in need of. But if residents prefer dropping off food items, Wortman said the pantry asks that people only buy what is on their list of needed items. Nothing can be homemade or fresh. Everything must be donated before an item reaches its “use-by” date. 

People can either drop food off in a cabinet (which is open 24/7) outside the door of the church or bring food to the pantry’s bin at Stop & Shop in Lexington. If someone wants to drop off a large amount of food, Wortman asks that they let the pantry know at least a few days in advance because organizing and unloading items takes some coordination.

One town over, locals can get and give food at Open Table, a food pantry and community supper organization in Concord. Open Table served almost 9,000 people in fiscal year 2025. According to a recent newsletter from the organization’s executive director, Alexandra DePalo, “over the past week the number of new clients that signed up for Open Table more than tripled.”

Anyone who lives in the central Middlesex county area, which includes Lexington, can get food from Open Table. 

To help those who rely on Open Table, people can donate, drop off non-perishable food that is on Open Table’s list of needed items, or join one of the organization’s “donation activities” to help the community.

People enrolled in SNAP can still get fresh produce through the state’s Healthy Incentives Program, or HIP. The program gives SNAP members an extra $40 to $80, depending on the size of one’s family, to buy fresh food at farms that are enrolled in the program. HIP won’t go away with SNAP on Nov. 1 because it’s state-funded. 

Wilcott-Henrie points people to Busa Farm, Farmer Dave’s, Kelley Farm and Stillman’s Farm, which sell produce at Lexington’s Farmers’ Market. Those farms are HIP certified. 

The Lexington Farmers’ Market is on hiatus right now since its summer market is closed, but it will re-open before Thanksgiving (hopefully the government shutdown will be over then), and again from January to April at the Waldorf School for its winter market. The market matches up to $15 for SNAP members. It would like to increase its match program to $25, but to do that, the market needs donations. 

“We have been committed to being a consistent, dependable source of funds for customers who come to the market. We just want to raise it even more so that people can come to expect an even higher SNAP match at the market while we work on other strategies as well, to try to soften the burden for these people,” Wilcott-Henrie explained. 

There are dozens of other programs out there that people can visit if they’re in need of food assistance. Gov. Healey announced a new statewide effort to support Massachusetts residents whose SNAP benefits are at risk. The effort is a collaboration with United Way, a global network of local organizations that allocate resources to help less fortunate community members. People can donate to their local United Way or to the United Response Fund, which will provide resources to communities to mitigate the impacts of SNAP going away. 

“We will work to increase our support for food security; we will work to serve the residents of the Commonwealth,” Tim Garvin, president and CEO at the United Way of Central Massachusetts, said in a statement. “We view Food Security as both a necessity for our residents AND as a critical factor in supporting the thriving economy of Massachusetts.” 

Residents can still access the state’s Women, Infants, & Children Nutrition Program, school meals, HIP, the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, and the Emergency Aid to the Elderly Disabled and Children program. 

Residents facing immediate hunger due to lack of SNAP benefits can call or text Project Bread’s Food Source Hotline at 1-800-645-8333 to receive information about food resources in their area or talk with a counselor. The hotline is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.