Oklahoma's two Feeding America food banks will split $1 million per week for seven weeks or as long as the federal government remains shut down — whichever happens sooner.
The shutdown has sparked uncertainty for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. It's a program 685,000 Oklahomans rely on to help afford groceries, according to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
On Monday, Oklahoma lawmakers voted to dedicate $7 million from the State Emergency Fund to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
Jeff Marlow, CEO of the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, said his organization will receive about $330,000 and the regional bank will get $667,000. The eastern food bank covers a third of the state, while the regional bank covers the remaining two-thirds.
"We're grateful for it, but it's just a drop in the bucket of what we're experiencing and seeing right now and what we need for resources, cash to be able to get food — it's a crisis. It's catastrophic," Marlow said.
Critics of the state's plan – including Democratic lawmakers – argue SNAP funds $30 million per week in groceries for Oklahomans.
Funds from the state are expected to arrive at the food bank soon, and he said a lot of work has been done behind the scenes to establish the rules for distributing the funds.
Marlow said the lion's share of the money will go toward agency partners to serve its 24-county service area.
Before the SNAP uncertainty, he said the bank saw a 27% increase in neighbor visits across its network. Now, there has been an increase — the bank is exceeding its monthly budget by more than double to purchase food.
He said it's wonderful to see people stepping up across the state with food drives and donations, but it's falling short. To keep up with the demand, Marlow said his organization has drawn on its reserve funds.
"We are tripling, almost quadrupling our daily pick and orders that are going out of our facility right now," Marlow said. "These are weights and orders that we've never seen before."
For people who want to help their neighbors, Marlow said keep it simple and support a local pantry. The bank has a pantry finder on its website.
"So anybody that's out there that feels led to give or that needs help, we're Oklahoma, we're Oklahoma strong and we're all better together," Marlow said. "And that's what it's going to take to get through this."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
