Food banks across the DMV are already seeing higher levels of need, just weeks after SNAP Emergency Allotments, or EAs, ended.
The pandemic-era payments would provide families with close to a hundred dollars or more to put food on the table each month. The benefits were enacted by Congress in 2020 to provide extra support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Weeks ago, the benefits expired, but high costs and inflation stuck around.
"We’ve already seen about a 10-15% increase in need here at the Hunger Resource Center," President & CEO of the Northern Virginia Family Service Stephanie Berkowitz said. "And we’re really just getting into the space where families who were getting, who were used to receiving that second level of assistance each month, won’t be."
Berkowitz says yearly--the Hunger Resource Center in Manassas serves about 10,000 people. Each month--Berkowitz says, the center usually serves a few hundred families. She expects that number to double to around 600 families in the coming weeks, due to the EA's ending.
"Reality is, it was coming at a time when inflation is at a 40-year high -- housing costs are very, very high," Berkowitz said. "And you couple that with the reduction in the benefits -- it’s going to cause a significant impact on families' lives."
One client who spoke to 7News says she feeds a family of six and has been visiting the center for years. She didn't want to share her name on camera, but said, the free food helps her face inflation.
"Instead of buying food, I can pay my bills."
The message of food insecurity is also making its way to Capitol Hill. Tuesday, multiple organizations will be going door-to-door in Congress, demanding representatives continue to support SNAP benefits, which are funded through the Farm Bill.
In Manassas and across Northern Virginia, community members are trying to do their part in other ways.
Fran O’Reilly lives in Arlington, and says, the need to fight food insecurity in her neighborhood has been persistent for several years. O'Reilly has been stocking the tiny pantry outside the Arlington Central Library since it opened.
She urges people to bring what non-perishables they can, like canned soup, tea bags, water bottles and even plastic utensils.
"There’s always supply and demand, but I also know that neighbors take care of other folks," O'Reilly said. "And we’re all a community, and we pull together."
This is true for the Hunger Resource Center, which Berkowitz says relies on mostly donated items and volunteers. While she hopes underlying issues, like housing costs and affordability, can be wholistically addressed--Berkowitz is also calling on the community to keep giving what they can.
"We’re ramping up, we’re increasing the amount of food, we’re reaching out and asking the community in assistance, in that, we can’t do this alone," Berkowitz said. "Community crisis requires a community response."