Brockton school holds food drive as government shutdown continues to jeopardize SNAP benefits

BROCKTON, Mass. — New Heights Charter School held a food distribution Saturday to help residents struggling to make ends meet while the government shutdown continues.

This is the school’s second food distribution event this month.

“This time we had double lines from the front of our building,” Principal Dr. Nichole Jones said. “So I think the need is becoming greater.”

In the midst of a legal battle over SNAP benefits, families and individuals drove up to the school Saturday morning to pick up bags of food.

Bags were filled with staple foods like rice, bread, canned vegetables, and cereal.

“It is our way of standing in the gap for our families,” said Dr. Jones.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency order Friday blocking a lower court’s ruling requiring the Trump administration to use contingency funds to fully pay for SNAP through November.

With the emergency order, the USDA will partially fund SNAP this month.

“I think it’s confusing because it’s confusing for us, so if we don’t know whether or not families are going to have the money that they need to feed their families, I know it’s confusing for them,” Jones said.

However, some Massachusetts residents woke up Saturday to previously scheduled payments in full.

One of those residents was Herb Fortier.

“Last night, just out of the blue, I just checked it just for the heck of it, and they were there, so I’m going to go shopping today,” Fortier explained.

Fortier said when the government was open, he typically received his SNAP benefits on the second day of the month.

Fortier is thinking ahead and worried about what will happen in December if the government remains closed.

“I would strongly urge not to rush right out and spend it all because I could see people buying incidental items out of fear because they don’t know what’s going to happen next month,” Fortier said.

Now, people on SNAP who were expecting to receive benefits next week are wondering if they will also receive full payments.

Governor Maura Healey said in a statement to Boston 25 News Saturday, “We confirmed that our previously scheduled payment went out this morning, so those who had missed a payment should now have funds on their cards ready to be spent immediately. We are assessing what this latest Court action means for those who were supposed to receive their benefits next week. President Trump needs to stop trying to force Americans to go hungry and pay full SNAP benefits for everyone.”,

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