LINCOLN COUNTY – Lincoln County food pantry workers are preparing to give residents extra help with groceries after federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have been temporarily suspended.

Winfield’s Calvary Chapel Food Pantry spokesperson Niki Simonsen said she’s already seen a spike this month in the number of people who visit the church for free food, toiletries and cleaning supplies.

“Our numbers have honestly doubled,” she said. “We’re serving easily 50 to 60 families.”

The suspension comes as part of the federal shutdown that started Oct. 1 after U.S. Congress members couldn’t agree to pass a bill to continue funding federal government services like SNAP into the 2026 fiscal year.

SNAP is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture via its Food Nutrition Service. FNS officials directed state agencies to temporarily suspend issuing SNAP funds, commonly called food stamps, on Nov. 1 until federal funding is available, or further notice.

Contingency funds cannot be legally used to cover benefits, according to an unsigned USDA memo, because contingency funds are meant to be used when regular funds aren’t enough, not when regular funds aren’t allotted.

The Missouri Department of Social Services provides the monthly benefits to eligible and enrolled low-income households in the state via electronic benefits cards (EBT cards). EBT cards are similar to debit cards and offer the funds for participants buy food at participating stores and farmers markets.

Unspent funds already issued to EBT cards can still be used, and SNAP applications will still be processed. November SNAP aid is slated to be delayed or not provided at all.

More than 2,000 households in Lincoln County received SNAP benefits in September, Missouri Department of Social Services Media Director Baylee Watts said, with an average of $420 per household issued. Approximately $959,000 in benefits was distributed across the county last month.

“They play a great role in keeping Missourians healthy and in productive in their everyday life,” Watts said of SNAP funds. “There’s so many families that rely on this to meet their basic needs and to put food on their tables.”

Nationally, an average of 41.7 million people were enrolled in SNAP per month in the 2024 fiscal year, and benefits averaged $187.20 per participant per month, according to USDA data. Federal SNAP spending totaled $99.8 billion in the 2024 fiscal year. Ten to 11.9 of the Missouri population received benefits that year.

Watts said benefits will begin to be administered once the U.S. Congress passes a federal funding bill, but it is unclear when that will happen. Watts encouraged enrollees to try and stretch funds from previous months into November.

In the meantime, food pantries workers like at Calvary Chapel are looking for ways to make feeding people in Lincoln County a little easier.

Some of the pantry’s requirements for a resident to receive food, such as living in Foley, Winfield or Old Monroe and submitting proof of income, have been discarded because of the shutdown. Now, only proof of address and identification is required to receive help.

“We’re trying to make sure that we can take care of anybody and everybody,” Simonsen said. “We understand sometimes things get tough and you just need some food.”

The pantry is open the first and third Tuesdays of each month from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at 43 Eagle Avenue in Winfield. Each household receives a free box typically of canned goods, meat, dry goods, toiletries and household cleaners.

A list of about a dozen food pantries in the county is available on the Lincoln County Health Department website. There’s also a list of other resources such as help with housing on the Missouri Department of Social Services website.

Several of the food pantries in Lincoln County like Calvary Chapel receive food from the St. Louis Area Foodbank, a regional food bank that distributes in Eastern Missouri and Southwestern Illinois.

But pantries also rely on donations of food, volunteer time, and money to help feed residents. Simonsen said Calvary Chapel Food Pantry leaders are planning to organize a food drive to solicit these donations.

“I’m honestly hoping that we can help more of our community,” she said, “and that the community wants to also help and give back to their neighbors.”