Organizers with the Island’s main food pantry are concerned that they may not be able to meet demand without significant community support when a federal funding program to help low-income residents is expected to freeze on Saturday.
More than a thousand Vineyarders rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for food — commonly known as SNAP — about 5 percent of the Island population. The federal benefit provides EBT cards, which function like a debit card, to households who need to supplement food costs; the cards average a few hundred dollars a month, and can be used at markets and grocery stores. According to data from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, SNAP beneficiaries increased in Dukes County by 119 percent between 2012 and 2021, with about 95 percent of participants living in down-Island towns.
Those recipients will lose SNAP access if the government remains shut down and no federal funds are diverted to the program by Saturday, and many will likely go to the Island Food Pantry for assistance.
“We are already getting calls from other social service agencies that SNAP beneficiaries are worried about losing their benefits, and are wanting to understand more about how to access other local food resources,” Noli Taylor, the co-executive director of Island Grown Initiative, the organization that operates the food pantry, said in an interview with The Times.
Meanwhile, the public benefits caseworker for SNAP in Dukes County, Wendy Maseda, said she’s been getting about five calls and three emails a day from Island residents who are enrolled in SNAP and are fearful that their benefits may cease.
Residents are scrambling to understand what those cuts could mean for themselves, their children, and their families as the date inches closer. With the holiday season approaching and the busy work period for many locals having just ended, officials said the timing of the cuts is significant.
Statewide, SNAP benefits mainly go to children (32 percent of recipients), seniors (24 percent), and those with disabilities (28 percent). County officials said the breakdown is similar on the Vineyard.
The passing of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” in July added significant hurdles to the SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps. Those restrictions — mainly work and reporting requirements — are scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 1.
But if the government shutdown continues, a funding freeze will halt the service completely in a few days, resulting in 42 million American individuals and families losing access to the funds, which in Massachusetts average about $230 for individuals and $370 for each household every month.
“There’s never been a freeze on SNAP benefits due to a government shutdown. So we’re in unprecedented territory here,” Taylor said. She pointed out that the funding cuts are “a decision that’s being made by government leaders,” and she encouraged people to reach out to their state and federal government officials to voice their concerns about this service being cut.
About 5,700 Islanders were registered clients at the local pantry in 2024, with more than 400 people driving through to pick up food each week. The number of people utilizing the pantry has doubled in five years. Its ready-made meal program and frozen meals, which are geared toward Islanders with disabilities, no transportation, and the elderly, jumped from about 2,300 meals in 2018 to a projected 75,000 in 2025.
Taylor said cuts to SNAP benefits could result in a huge increase in the number of people using the pantry to combat hunger at a time when they’re already strained. But she clarified that they’re ready to help anyone who needs it.
In an interview with The Times, Maseda and the interim director of health and human services for the county, Sarah Kuh, said the effect of the federal funding freeze for SNAP is twofold.
First, Island residents who don’t have access to their SNAP benefits may have trouble with other costs, such as rent and utilities, which may put their housing at risk. Second, the outsourcing for other free food services, such as the food pantry, may put pressure on the pantry instead of providing economic benefits to local grocers and farmers. Part of SNAP’s purpose is the cycle it promotes in communities, and the program’s freezing could create ripples throughout the Island economy. But Maseda and Kuh said there are other options available for the time being.
“We have a robust food-security network through the Island Grown Initiative and community-based organizations, like the churches,” Kuh said. “I’m sure that people are mobilizing similarly all over the country … to offset the damage that SNAP cuts are going to have on households.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has been speaking out against the Trump administration in recent weeks, pointing to the contingency fund that is available for services like SNAP. “This is a choice,” she said at a recent conference. “About $240 million a month comes through [from the federal government] in SNAP benefits.”
Gov. Healey brought up the thousands of federal workers throughout Massachusetts — which on the Island are the Coast Guard and TSA at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport — who are unpaid at this time, and may be sourcing meals from their local pantries, adding to already burdened free food services.
Assistance from local businesses
Some Island businesses are already making efforts to raise money for free food initiatives to provide sustenance to anyone who is losing the service. Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven is donating $2 from every cookbook to Island Grown Initiative.
“With the holidays coming up, I know people are starting to think about gift-buying, and cookbooks are always a popular seller around this time of year, so it seemed like a logical pairing,” the owner of Bunch of Grapes, Molly Coogan, said in a statement to The Times. “My hope is that for the people who were thinking about buying cookbooks anyway, they’ll be more inclined to do so locally, knowing that they’ll be helping out their fellow Islanders.”
The owner of Sharkey’s Cantina in Oak Bluffs, J.B. Blau, said anyone enrolled in SNAP benefits can reach out to him on Nov. 1 for a free platter of food. “No kid goes hungry,” Blau wrote in a Facebook post.
S&S Kitchenette on Main Street in Vineyard Haven also addressed the cuts in a recent post on its social media page. Owner Spring Sheldon said the funding freeze is an “abhorrent act of cruelty” by the Trump administration, and offered those who are on SNAP to reach out to her and she will provide ready-to-eat meals and meal kits at no charge.
“We will not stand by and let our community go hungry,” Sheldon wrote in a post on S&S Kitchenette’s Instagram page. “It goes against everything we believe in and stand for.”
IGI is one of the Woman’s Club of Martha’s Vineyard’s regular charities. In addition to my contributions I would like to “adopt” a SNAP family, for the duration, if such a thing were possible. Anyone know how I could do that?
Love that idea Carolyn. I’ll adopt a family as well.
The facts are the Trump Administration is very concerned about these cuts but he can’t control the rhetoric and “cruelty” of the Schumer Shutdown. As for the Governor she has somehow found almost $4 Billion in state funds to feed and house illegal immigrants over the last couple of years yet somehow doesn’t want to fund this program with the almost $9 billion in Rainy Day funds the state has sitting in the bank. I urge all islanders to call Sen. Warren’s and Markey’s office to demand they do their job and change their votes. They certainly are not doing what’s in the best interests of islanders in need!
“very concerned”
Was it not Trump who said that the shutdown was an opportunity for him to get rid of “democrat” programs ?
Where on EARTH do you get “very concerned”, except for a few rogue reps like MTG and a few in poorer purple swing states. ???
Just to clarify the post mentions a large family sized platter of protein, cheese rice and beans twice a week for as long as this BS continues. Thank you. People can message me at (508) 560-1932 and we are judgement free and everything will be kept quiet.
Good on you JB…is there a way for any of us who want to could contribute to subsidize meals for folks?
Any other food establishments who wish to start a pay it forward program?
The government didn’t “shut down” because of a single speech or signature — it shut down because Senate Democrats refused to move the dozen appropriations bills the House had already passed.
Instead, they demanded one giant catch-all package that bundled unrelated spending together — the same tactic that’s produced trillion-dollar deficits year after year.
Programs like SNAP are caught in the middle not because Republicans dislike them, but because Congress stopped following its own budgeting process.
A continuing resolution was on the table weeks ago; Democrats blocked it to preserve political leverage. That’s not compassion — that’s brinkmanship.
Governor Healey’s sound bites about “choices” ignore that the choice to negotiate was hers and her party’s.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” adding new work-requirement language, passed months ago with bipartisan support. Today’s freeze isn’t about that law — it’s about inaction.
If Washington truly cared about families who rely on SNAP, both chambers would have kept the government open through a simple extension. Instead, they chose a headline.
Here on the Vineyard, we value steady work and service — and deserve better than D.C. drama.
exactly!
Murray you nailed it!
Just 6 months ago, Chuck Schumer voted for the clean CR funding bill — the EXACT SAME bill on the floor RIGHT NOW. At the time, he said a shutdown would hurt the American people — and he was right.
Now, Schumer’s keeping the government closed and stopping food assistance to struggling Americans just to protect his own job — and it’s dragged the Democrat Party to its lowest approval rating in HISTORY.
In a few days, SNAP will end and millions will go hungry and face the reality of what happens when you depend on politicians to feed you.
Absurd.
You know it’s almost seems like the democrats are holding on to the last bit of power they can still show
Democrats including this Times reporter always seem to slant the facts towards the big bad conservatives and Trump.
Fact – The Democrats caused this and could end it in about 15 minutes but in their own dirty words – “then we would lose our leverage “ ! You – the hungry – are their leverage.
Remember that when you vote next time.
incorrect, but not surprising.
Trump can end it in one minute.
Remember that when you vote next time.
Dear Federal GOP members. Pass a budget and stop relying on continuing resolutions. Are you afraid of being held accountable for your cruelty?
These comments defending the gop are such a joke. Expecting us, to believe in anything this republican regime does or is doing is pathetic. They are destroying America and then hiding behind their blatant lies that even now their own members are seeing the corruption and thievery that can never compare to any previous administration. Convicted felon, pedophile, self serving thief, mostly though a liar to all of us daily. These are just a few thoughts that pop up.
People of good will are welcome here.
Open your doors and wallets then. Practice what you preach. Feed the homeless and shelter the ones crossing the border.
The island is so sheltered and so far from the reality what really goes on in this country. I travel for work to almost every major city in the United States. It is so sad to see what goes on there. All democrat run sanctuary cities are littered with trash, homeless people, open air drug use, boarded up stores and locked up toothpaste.
Until that is here people will keep voting for these policies.
The Governor was quick to find/spend over $1B in emergency funds for non-Mass/ non-US Citizens, so I’m sure the Governor will now do the job of the office and find state money to fund SNAP for those most in need in MA.
Rather than wasting time reading talking points, let’s resolve to help our fellow islanders. Those who reside here can make a donation like I did the other day to the Island Food Pantry. Any amount is the right amount in a situation like this. Don’t be political, be generous!
While there is plenty of blame to go around, For those of you who are focused only on the failures of the democratic party to resolve this fiasco, you will not see a democratic lawmaker speak about SNAP recipients , or twist the truth like this.— ” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) on Thursday didn’t sympathize with the millions of impacted Americans and advised them to “stop smoking crack.”
“There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average,”
He continued, “Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack.”
“‘Stop smoking crack.” ????? Yeah– spoken like a truly compassionate leader……
Let me point out that his $4200 number is misleading. SNAP recipients, on average, receive just over $6 a day in assistance.— 38% of recipients are under the age of 18 and 20% are over 60.Hardly the “crackhead” demographic. He receives up to $79 a day for food and incidentals when Congress is in session.. I suggest HE stop smoking crack and do his job. . https://www.huffpost.com/entry/clay-higgins-snap-cuts-post-stop-smoking-crack_n_6904e1f9e4b0b48d8a1c4841?dicbo=v2-u2Bu8Qf
Sad to see so much partisan sniping when people in our community need help. There could be a solar eclipse and people would find a way to make it grounds for political carping, with half blaming the GOP and half damning the Democrats. This is a local paper in a local community- I’m happy to be part of the local solution as best I can but will happily tune out this talking-points bickering.
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