Record Calls to the MN Food HelpLine Signal Desperation for Many Minnesota Families. Congress Must Act Now!
In the last two months, calls to Hunger Solutions’ Minnesota Food HelpLine have more than doubled, some days logging 10 times as many calls as during the same period last year. Since July 1, over 3,800 callers have reached out for help finding critical resources. Families are desperate: no jobs, no additional unemployment support, the threat of eviction, loss of childcare, fear of health risks and the anxiety about not knowing what’s next has put an overwhelming burden on families already suffering the health and economic consequences of COVID-19.
For those families in immediate need of food, the Minnesota Food HelpLine connects them to their local food shelf. HelpLine staff also help callers navigate the application process for any benefit programs they are eligible for including the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP helps supplement the food budgets of low income families so that they can purchase healthy food from grocery stores. Currently close to half-a-million Minnesotans qualify for SNAP. To be eligible, a family of four must have an annual household income below $42,492.
This week, Hunger Solutions joined non-profit organizations from across the state of Minnesota to urge Congress to get back to work and pass a COVID-19 relief package to help mitigate the devastating impact of our current crisis on so many families. A critical part of the proposed federal relief package is an investment in the SNAP program. Boosting the maximum SNAP benefit by 15 percent and increasing the monthly minimum SNAP benefit from $16 to $30 will help meet immediate nutrition needs as well as support our economic recovery. SNAP is a proven stimulus tool: Every $1 in SNAP benefits distributed in an economic downturn generates between $1.50 to $1.80 in economic activity.
“Hunger Solutions serves every county in the state of Minnesota and we are seeing the impact of the pandemic everywhere,” said Executive Director Colleen Moriarty. “The loss of a job and unemployment insurance and the threat of losing a home is amplified when you also don’t have enough food to feed your family. Families have so many things to feel uncertain about. Where they’re getting their next meal shouldn’t be one of them.”