Maryland Food Bank prepares to meet demand after SNAP emergency allotments end

BALTIMORE - The Maryland Food Bank is preparing for a surge in people who need their services with the SNAP emergency allotments coming to an end.

Now, they are working out ways to meet the demand. 

Congress recently passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act which ends emergency allotments after February 2023.

According to the Maryland Department of Human Resources, this is going to impact about 845,000 Marylanders who receive SNAP benefits. 

Starting this month, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients will no longer receive the additional emergency allotments that were provided during COVID-19.

"A lot of people are really nervous about what's going to happen in the coming months and how they're going to be able to provide for their families," said Maryland Food Bank CEO and President Carmen Del Guercio. "As people's benefits go away, they're going to be turning to food banks to provide access to food."

Since March 2020, Congress temporarily increased SNAP benefits by providing emergency allotments to help low-income households deal with the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"This benefit, it's averaged about $82 dollars per month, per recipient, and for some senior citizens, we're hearing numbers much higher," Del Guercio said.

The economy is in a much different place than it was when the government started providing emergency allotments.

Bureau of Labor statistics data shows food-at-home prices have increased 11.3 percent and the price of eggs more than doubled since last year. 

"You lose some of this emergency allotment then you have to deal with higher prices, and so it puts more pressure on the folks who were receiving the Emergency Allotment," Del Guercio said. "So again, from our perspective, we're expecting more people to turn to food banks to provide the gaps that are going to exist as a result of that."

Del Guercio said Maryland Food Bank has been stepping up purchasing efforts to meet the expected demand. 

"We're buying twice as much food as we ever have and looking at the type of food that we're buying to ensure that as the demand hits, food will be available for folks," Del Guercio said.

You can visit mdfoodbank.org to find a pantry near you.