COLDEN, N.Y. — Food pantries across Western New York are voicing their support of a state senate bill that could quadruple the minimum amount of SNAP dollars New Yorkers receive every month.
Manager of the Bread of Life Outreach Center Food Pantry in Colden, Ronald Smith, runs a food pantry two days a week, and it has become a lifeline for many in this community.
“We should be able to feed people, that’s a necessity,” Ronald said.
This necessity can serve upwards of 300 people every month.
“It’s important everybody eats well, eats healthy and survives,” Ronald said. “You feel miserable if you don’t eat. If you don’t eat right, you feel miserable.”
Closer to Buffalo, that need only increases.
Michael Gilhooly with the Response to Love Center on Buffalo’s East Side serves roughly 1,500 people a month.
“We try to stretch what we have so that that everyone can get something,” Michael said. “And it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do that on a regular basis.”
Michael is the assistant director of the center.
He feels that the need always increases towards the end of the month, as people's SNAP benefits run out.
“We also serve a daily meal, our numbers are going up because people are running out of food by the middle of the month,” Michael said. “We have an 80-year-old lady who gets the minimum, and she can barely get by with that.”
That minimum in the state of New York can drop to as low as $23 per month for food.
However, a bill in state senate hopes to increase that minimum to four times amount, and give these people in need $100 SNAP dollars per month.
New York isn’t alone in this thought, New jersey has already made this change last year, and now has a minimum of $95 SNAP dollars per month.
“An increase in the availability in SNAP benefits will be huge to the people who need it the most,” Michael said.
New York's bill is currently in committee and has not yet been voted on.
