Despite the impending end of the federal government shutdown, Jefferson County is assessing local need for a possible food aid intervention in the wake of neighboring Butte-Silver Bow’s decision to provide emergency funding.
Some 77,000 Montanans who receive Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, including more than 700 county residents, struggled with uncertainty as the Trump Administration delayed SNAP funding during the shutdown.
Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services on Monday issued partial SNAP benefits, advising any recipients who had yet to receive the funds to call the EBT Cardholder Helpdesk at 1-866-850-1556 or visit www.mybnft.com.
On Tuesday, Congress appeared to reach a deal to reopen the government, but when the remaining food aid funds would arrive remained unclear. County Public Health Supervisor Pam Hanna is working with food banks to assess the extent of local need and said she hoped to organize a county-wide effort to bolster food bank donations.
“I just wondered if there was a way we could reach out to those people and maybe make a combined effort that would have a greater impact than if we were all trying to do small, wonderful things,” Hanna said.
The results of the health department assessment will determine if further action is needed. “If we hear that donations aren’t meeting the need, we will have to have a discussion as to what the county is able to do to help out,” County Commissioner Cory Kirsch said in an email.
On Nov. 5, Butte Chief Executive JP Gallagher and Silver Bow commissioners passed an emergency resolution approving $183,974 to address food insecurity. It’s not clear if Jefferson County has the funding to take a similar emergency step.
The JeffCo Food Share has seen an increase in phone calls inquiring about food aid in recent weeks, but President Priscilla Hedgecock said she would have a better sense of local need after Thursday, when the food share opens for its monthly distribution.
On Monday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer confirmed that the Trump Administration had urged the Supreme Court to pause orders from lower courts making the administration responsible for funding SNAP even during a shutdown. The Supreme Court was expected to rule on Tuesday.
SNAP is expected to be fully funded when the government reopens and with the Department of Agriculture set to be funded through the end of the fiscal year 2026, SNAP recipients would not face the same uncertainty in January that they did this past month.
The back-and-forth has left the one in eight Americans who rely on SNAP in a nutritional holding pattern and left politicians and nonprofits mired in uncertainty. Vickie Rabenstein of Sincerely Paul Feeding His Sheep, a Whitehall food bank, said she had seen an increase in newcomers in the past few weeks.
Like the Whitehall Food Pantry, the ministry received $1,500 from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation’s Holiday Giving Program. But it’s holding off using the funds because, Rabenstein said, “things are so up in the air.”
Democratic state officials announced late Monday that 32 state legislators were signing a petition to call for a emergency legislative session to discuss a solution for SNAP beneficiaries.
Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, who represents East Helena, called for the state to take action to help those in need. “This is not a political game,” Dunwell said Monday. “The job of the government is to serve where nonprofits can’t. They’re maxed out where private industry won’t tread. It’s our job.”
Donate to Jeffco Food Share at PO Box 244, Boulder, MT 59632, and the Whitehall Food Pantry at P.O. Box 266, Whitehall, MT.
