“[SNAP] is not enough because I have my grandkids,” Brown said. “They’re hungry. We don’t have time to fight over the piece of chicken.”
Even on cold or rainy days, the line at the pantry spans down the sidewalk, with dozens of people waiting to get their free bag of food. Patrons like Brown hope for meat, bread, milk and fresh produce when they visit the food pantry. But recently, the bags the pantry hands out have been lighter.
The introduction of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 special eligibility and benefits of SNAP, a program many low-income families and individuals rely on to get groceries. Earlier this year, Trump cut 94 million pounds of food aid, leaving food banks scrambling to scrape together enough food to give the their growing number of patrons.
These problems, which many food bank workers in Greater Boston described as an impending crisis as the holiday season approaches, are expected to be exacerbated by the government shutdown, which on Thursday, entered its ninth day.
“We’ve seen a 30 percent increase in the distributions that we’ve handed out over the past three months,” said Jonathan Tetrault, vice president for basic needs at Catholic Charities Boston, a nonprofit organization that provides community support, including food services, child care, and healthy families programs.
“So what that tells us is, not only are more people needing support, but the people that have been coming to us are needing to come more frequently.”
MaryAnn Laughlin, a volunteer at the Yawkey Center food pantry, said recently, it has sometimes had to start closing earlier. Having to turn away hungry patrons of the pantry is her least favorite part of the job, she said.
“There’s not enough food because sometimes…as you could see, the bag is not that full,” said Laughlin. Bags are still packed with a variety of foods, including dried beans, rice, canned fruits and vegetables, but they often include less fresh products and less meat, which volunteers and employees have said have been more difficult to get.
Last week, Greater Boston Food Bank President and CEO Catherine D’Amato released a statement, outlining concerns over how a government shutdown could impact the food distribution system. The GBFB distributes food to over 600 pantries in Eastern Massachusetts, providing a strong foundation of food supply to thousands of people.
Bristol County and Suffolk County, two areas that the food bank serves, house approximately 5,000 and 7,000 federal workers, respectively, according to GBFB. Additionally, Bristol County has a 46 percent food insecurity rate, and Suffolk County has a 49 percent food insecurity rate.
“Any government shutdown will only exacerbate the problem of hunger, which has been increasing in Massachusetts, with 1 in 3 people experiencing food insecurity in the past year‚” D’Amato wrote in the statement.
Tara Fuller, a coordinator of the Yawkey community center food pantry, said that since February, the pantry has received 20 percent less food from GBFB. It feels like the pantry is “always one step behind” trying to supply enough food for people fighting food insecurity, she said.
David Waters, CEO of Community Servings, a nonprofit organization based in Jamaica Plain that provides meals to people experiencing critical and chronic illnesses, said he is worried about the looming impact the cuts will have on the organization, which relies heavily on federal funding.
Waters said Community Servings has already felt the impact of increased food insecurity in the Boston community, with the waitlist for their program growing longer and longer.
“Community Servings in February had a waiting list of about 100 people. Yeah, that’s close to 300 people today, and some of them could be waiting six months,” he said. “And, if you’re dealing with a critical illness and you’re food insecure, you can’t wait six months.”
Lucky for Brown, the Yawkey Center food pantry patron, she was able to take some fresh fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes and apples, and add them to her bag this week. It’s a luxury that the Yawkey food pantry can sometimes give people when they have fresh food.
Brown said she is grateful for the food that she can get at the pantry, even with less being offered at times.
“I can survive. But there’s certain things, you know, there’s certain things that you need,” she said. ”You [can’t] to go to sleep [when] your stomach is growling.”
Katarina Schmeiszer can be reached at katarina.schmeiszer@globe.com. Follow her on X at @katschmeiszer.
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