About 100,000 people turned to food pantries and soup kitchens supplied by the Rhode Island Community Food Bank in October, the organization said on Tuesday. It was the largest demand for food in the nonprofit’s history, leaders said.
“It really spiked,” said Jen Tomassini, chief operating officer of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “There’s a lot of unease in the community.”
Prior to October’s record, the food bank served an average of 89,000 people a month. This past October, it served 100,012 people in need of food.
The organization has seen elevated demand for food for months, Tomassini said. In July, the federal legislation, HR1, also called the "Big Beautiful Bill," instituted cuts for social service programs and restrictions on SNAP benefits. The bill’s implementation is ongoing, but it instantly created uncertainty, which drove people to seek food aid, said Kate MacDonald, the organization's director of communications. And shoppers were already facing climbing food prices.
Then, when the federal shutdown began Oct. 1, the situation escalated, food bank staff said. Federal employees in Rhode Island missed paychecks. And in late October, the USDA announced that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would not be sent if the federal shutdown continued into November.
More than 140,000 Rhode Islanders rely on the program for food assistance. Payments total about $29 million a month.
“We were very concerned because we did not necessarily have the resources to meet it,” Tomassini said.
But the organization quickly saw a surge in donations. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee’s administration and the Rhode Island Foundation each sent $200,000 to the food bank. Individual donations also swelled. There was a flood of community food drives, first-time donors, and increased contributions from existing donors, according to Chief Philanthropy Officer Dana DiMarco.
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“There was an absolute immediate surge… There would’ve been families standing at doors and no food to give them,” said COO Jen Tomassini. “It’s very touching to know that Rhode Islanders will take care of Rhode Islanders.”
Over the past month, demand has remained high. November is usually the food bank’s busiest month of the year. Coupled with the turbulence over SNAP benefits, which were delayed until mid-November, and pre-existing cuts to benefit programs, the food bank expects to set a new record by the end of the month.
Tomassini says that thanks to increased support, it is prepared to meet elevated demand for the next few months. But beyond that, the future is less certain.
“If it stays at this level,” Tomassini said, “we’re going to have to up our game.”
