Maya Mazor-Hoofien/The Mossy Log
On Nov. 5, the government shutdown became the longest in American history when it entered its 36th day. The effects of the shutdown have been far-reaching and increasingly severe as each day passes. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as food stamps, is a prominent victim of the shutdown, with legal challenges and jurisdictional disputes delaying or preventing November payments from reaching the one in eight Americans that rely on the program to feed their families each month.
When the government went into shutdown on Oct. 1, SNAP benefits were already secured for the month of October. However, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Oct. 10 that benefits would not be allocated in November, approximately 42 million Americans were left wondering how they would manage without food assistance.
Amid this uncertainty, students at Lewis & Clark organized a food drive to support community members in need. A collaboration between Student Philanthropy Council, Chabad on Campus and the Center for Social Change and Community Involvement arranged for donation bins to be placed across campus, with collections to be split evenly between food pantries at The Nest at LC and Alder House in downtown Portland.
Historically, SNAP benefits have never been affected by a government shutdown. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a non-partisan research and policy institute, SNAP has been treated as an “appropriated entitlement” which ensured funding for the program during the budgetary allocations process.
“On numerous occasions, the Administration has made clear that SNAP’s contingency fund would be available for SNAP benefits,” wrote Dottie Rosenbaum, director of federal SNAP policy at CBPP.
One such occasion was Sept. 30, when a now-deleted USDA document titled “Lapse of Funding Plan” clearly stated that a federal government shutdown would not prevent SNAP benefits from being distributed.
“SNAP’s operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds … to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year,” the document reads.
However, on Oct. 24, Axios obtained a memo from the USDA titled “Impact of the Government Lapse on November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Household Benefits.” The memo asserts that “Congressional Democrats blocking government funding” are to blame for delaying November SNAP payouts. The memo claims that “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits,” in direct contradiction to historical precedent and its own Sept. 30 “Lapse of Funding Plan,” as well as its recent use of discretionary authority to transfer funds into the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.
In response, CBPP argued that the administration not only had the ability to bridge SNAP funding, but was also legally required to. The complex legal battle over the responsibility and authority of the administration bled into November, when families across the country began a new month without receiving the benefits they rely on.
With some Americans having received full benefits and others still waiting, the outlook on SNAP funding continues to change day-by-day and vary state-by-state. Regardless of the ongoing legal battle, in Oregon, SNAP benefits were paid in full to all residents beginning on Nov. 7.
While the future of payments remained uncertain, members of the Portland community stepped up to ameliorate the effects of potential SNAP delays.
Riona McCormack is a nursing student at George Fox University. They serve as a social work volunteer at Alder House, an organization in downtown Portland that provides low-income housing, on-site support services and a food pantry for residents. Residents at Alder House typically arrive from hospitals, mental institutions, homeless shelters or recent incarceration.
“They focus on retainment. So their really big thing is they only have 130 residents, but some of them have been there for multiple years, and that’s the longest housing a lot of them have had,” McCormack said.
When they heard about the SNAP funding freeze, they turned to their friends, LC students Mina Gudis ’26 and Elie Al Khoury ’26, hoping to leverage their roles as student organization leaders to launch a food drive supporting pantries at both The Nest and Alder House.
Al Khoury is the president of Student Philanthropy Council, and Gudis is the president of Chabad on Campus.
Maya Mazor-Hoofien ’26, the author of this article, is also on the Chabad on Campus student board. Additional reporting for this article was provided by news editor Charles A. Anderson ’28 to prevent a conflict of interest.
Al Khoury described how the clubs are working with McCormack to implement the initiative.
“Together as two student organizations, we’re going to be acting as the liaison between the outside organization and campus members to facilitate communication and organize food pickup and drop off,” he said.
According to Al Khoury, there are five food donation bins across all three campuses. They can be found in the following locations: the Watzek Library lobby, the Student Engagement desk in Fowler Student Center, The Coop, third floor of Rogers Hall by the Graduate School Registrar and in front of the Law School Grill and Cafe.
The bins will stay up at least through the end of November, but the organizers are open to continuing the collections past the end of the month.
“Hopefully, I would like it to run as long as we find it sustainable,” Gudis said. “I think food security is a very good way to bridge the financial gap when you’re deciding between rent or groceries. And in my experience, that can do a lot in terms of keeping people housed.”
Gudis’ experience is first-hand, having developed her perspective through years of volunteer social work, including eight years working in Skid Row, a 50-block neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles she describes as “the capital for the United States homeless crisis.”
Gudis credits her unconventional upbringing with her passion for this project and others like it.
“I’m a Skid Row nepo baby. My mom’s been working in Skid Row since the ’80s and she oftentimes just left me with people who were actively unhoused or in the past had been. Those were my babysitters. So I’ve been in the dwellings of people who really rely on this stuff, and I see how it can affect people,” Gudis said.
McCormack also shared personal experiences that motivated this project.
“Throughout high school, I lived in my car for a good minute and I exclusively was only able to afford food through SNAP. That was my whole access to food for a good year and a half,” McCormack said. “And so, I just want to give back and try and help the people who no longer have that, because I think I would still be living in my car if I didn’t have that.”
McCormack’s work experience at Alder House also showed them how vital programs like SNAP can be.
“If you’re focusing all day trying to gather money or to try and find food, that’s what you’re going to spend all day doing. So I know a lot of these people want to do more things for themselves, but they’re … just prioritizing mainly survival,” McCormack said. “I think if we can get rid of the survival aspect that they’re having to suffer through, they can actually start to focus on other things that might interest them and can lead to long-term housing retainment, job retainment.”
Rain Damon-Espinas ’28 is the student coordinator for The Nest. They described the group’s mission and how crucial community support is to it.
“We have a great team of people who are working hard to address the increase in need for free resources, especially food,” Damon-Espinas said. “I think this just speaks to how important it is to be actively giving what you can to your community, and to actually be aware and care for those around you.”
The Nest, located in Roberts 112, is open daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. to all CAS students. As a community resource center, The Nest provides free essentials such as non-perishable food and hygiene products. Students interested in getting involved can bring food donations to the bins located on all three campuses.
McCormack also invites anyone who wants to lend a hand to head downtown to Alder House.
“We’re short on volunteers. Like, if you want to come walk in the front door, we’ll let you volunteer day-of,” they said.
Feeding America and our local Oregon Food Bank have online resources for locating other food pantries and ways to donate.
“I think it’s really important that, on campus and in our everyday lives, we should be doing what we can to somewhat ease that burden and look out for our community,” Gudis said. “And I know it feels like such a minuscule thing when, you know, it feels like the world is burning, but yeah, from my personal experience, this actually does help a lot.”
Note: Due to The Mossy Log’s print schedule, the information in this article is up to date as of Nov. 12. Late Wednesday, the government shutdown ended, but the initiative will continue.
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