11/03/2025
"The loss of food stamps doesn’t just cause people to be hungry, but has trickle-down effects that seep into other areas of life," said Tchernavia Montgomery, MSW, chief executive officer of Care Ring. "Food is medicine and by preventing access to food, individuals are going to have negative impacts on chronic diseases. It is going to only inflate other issues like poverty, unemployment, and it’s going to put a strain on our safety net system that is already very fragile,” she said.
Thank you to Briah Lumpkins at The Charlotte Observer for her reporting on not just the current hunger crisis being caused by the government shutdown, but one that has been building, and one that will worsen as billions were slashed from SNAP funding in the federal spending bill that was passed this summer.
In a report from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust released this morning, it is estimated that in North Carolina, this deficit will mean that our state will have to come up with $65M to fund SNAP on our own in October 2026 and that number will skyrocket to $420M in funding in October 2027 in order to continue to provide SNAP benefits to those in need.
HOW TO HELP: Visit our Client Choice Food Pantry page to learn about volunteering, donating goods, or making a gift: https://careringnc.org/food-pantry/
Special thanks to Care Ring Board member and former NC DHHS Secretary Carmen Ho**er Odom for volunteering in our pantry and providing valuable insight for the Observer article as well.
READ THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER ARTICLE HERE: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article312723501.html
