Akash Acharya, co-owner of Brewsky’s Drive-Thru in Newark, began passing out “care packages” filled with shelf-stable foods to people in need at 1 p.m. on Friday, just six days after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were frozen for more than 19,000 people in Licking County.
By 1:15, all of the care packages were gone.
Acharya, a 26-year-old Reynoldsburg resident, assembled the care packages himself, hoping to keep some of Licking County’s 19,169 SNAP recipients – including about 7,000 children – from going hungry while the ongoing federal government shutdown continues. The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, prevented SNAP benefits from being distributed on Nov. 1.
Six weeks into the government shutdown and one week into the SNAP benefits freeze, more Licking countians are seeking support from local food pantries, and more Licking countians are seeking ways to support their neighbors.
The Licking County Food Pantry Network (FPN) has seen an increase in families they have never served before, according to Funds Development Director Alyssa Shepard.
At one FPN location, volunteers estimated 54 new families made their first visit to the location.
“I’ve had conversations with people who have said that they’ve donated before, and now they need us,” Shepard said. “Some of our small sites will say, wow, we had 10 new families. If they’re only serving 50 families that day, that’s still a significant amount.”
Though there has been an uptick, Shepard notes that the increase is a result from cuts experienced back in July, not just recent reductions.
“We’ve already felt this year like we had less resources,” Shepard said. “And then inflation has affected people.”
Shepard also notes that 20 food pantry locations across Licking County help combat the exhaustion of resources.
“It’s not been such a huge impact on one particular location, because they can go anywhere in the county,” Shepard said. “It’s not been overwhelming for us yet.”
Shepard’s major concerns at the moment are supporting community members that have seen a reduction in their benefits, and also spreading awareness to recipients that haven’t seen reductions yet, but will in coming days due to the day their benefits are supposed to reset.
“There are some people who still haven’t felt the effect of waking up, and their card wasn’t loaded the day it was supposed to be,” Shepard said. “I want them to feel secure, that they can count on us.”
But from the donor perspective, Shepard said she is worried about donor fatigue. Sometimes people give food, and they feel like it’s not enough. Shepard said that any amount of food donated is greatly appreciated and makes a meaningful difference.
The FPN had received numerous donations from the community through food drives that Shepard says have been crucial to keeping FPN’s 20 locations operating.
“There were a lot of community members that dropped off food, which gave our pantries the ability to come into the warehouse to get the food that they needed to stack their shelves,” Shepard said.
As the shutdown continues with an end not yet in sight, Shepard said food drives help address immediate needs for food. But Shepard also said that monetary donations help the pantry make strategic orders to get the most food to families at the least cost. Volunteering at the food pantries is another way those interested can make a difference.
“I keep telling people to help where they can,” Shepard said. “Offering the neighbor a ride to a pantry when you know that pantry is open, or offering to go to a pantry for a neighbor when you know that that neighbor may not have transportation.”
The Salvation Army’s food pantry in Newark, too, has seen an uptick in pantry visits.
“Where we’ve seen an increase [in demand] right away was in our food pantry, people coming to take groceries home to cook,” explained Major Larry Wittenberg with the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army also offers free lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, and served 3,500 hot meals in October, which Wittenberg said is typical.
“I’m thinking that our numbers might go up Monday through Friday in the soup kitchen, but it hasn’t been long enough to really make a comparison,” he said on Friday.
Wittenberg said the food pantry is “pretty well stocked from donations,” but the organization needs more volunteers in the soup kitchen and the food pantry.
At the Food Pantry Network in Licking County location near Licking Memorial Hospital, volunteer Cheryl Myers shared there has been an increased demand.
“We’ve seen more families come in,” Myers said. “18 to 25 new families a day. It’s been really hard on everybody.”
She volunteers two days a week. On Friday Nov. 7, in just 10 minutes, there were three families.
“As you can see it’s just constant people coming in,” she said. When asked what people are looking for most right now, Myers responded with “just food, any food.”
The pantry is accepting donations, yet because of the government shutdown they are not getting produce or meat.
“Thanksgiving is coming up. We hope to get turkeys and stuff, but it’s not a given,” Myers said.
Last month they served 3,400 families, yet she estimates this number will increase in November.
“The community response has been absolutely fabulous, they love it that we are having it here because they are at the hospital and they just come right over. We have a bus stop on the corner here and a lot of people come off the bus,” Myers said.
People in Licking County are stepping up, offering support to people who are struggling and serving more meals.
Acharya and his business partner, Sagar Dhital, own Brewsky’s Drive-Thru, a recently opened drive-thru convenience store at 81 Calburn Street. He began handing out care packages of food, paid for out of his own pocket, at 1 p.m. on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7, and hopes to continue on Saturday, Nov. 8. Going forward, he said, he intends to hand out care packages every Thursday until SNAP benefits resume.
The care packages run out quickly, usually within about 10 minutes. On Nov. 6, Brewsky’s handed out 25 care packages containing beef broth, spaghetti, granola bars and ready-to-eat rice. On Nov. 7, they distributed 21 care packages with cereal, canned beans, sweet corn, granola bars and sodas, each intended to last about a week.
“We know times are tough, and we’ll be hosting more giveaways soon to help our community during the SNAP benefit issues. Please let others who are still in need get a chance next time — stay tuned for updates,” Brewsky’s Drive-Thru said on its Facebook page, the main way it communicates with the community.
Acharya immigrated from Nepal, where he was a refugee, with his family in 2010 to Texas. They later moved to Pennsylvania, where he graduated, before relocating to Ohio in 2016.
“When we migrated to the United States, we lived on food stamps. My parents started working and earning a little bit, but the food stamps were lowered, and it was hard for them to feed us. [I witnessed how much] they struggled when the system was down,” he said. “Right now, I own a business here. If I’m earning from the community, why not give back to the community?”
Acharya had hoped to work in cybersecurity but needed to help support his family, so he took a job at Amazon, where he worked for nearly nine years and worked his way up from Tier 1 associate to a manager. After leaving Amazon, he explored ways to start his own business.
The community, touched by Acharya’s efforts, is also finding ways to help those in need. Acharya said people continue to reach out through Brewsky’s Drive-Thru’s Facebook page or by calling to donate food items so the business can continue supporting others, while some volunteer to deliver care packages to people without transportation. The care packages are intended to be limited to one per family, since some people return the next day. Acharya wants to ensure everyone has a chance to receive one.
Brewsky’s Drive-Thru will continue hosting giveaways—potentially on Thursdays as “Thank You Thursdays”—until SNAP benefits resume.
Meanwhile, Lakehouse Pizza in Alexandria is offering free large cheese pizzas to families who receive SNAP benefits and can show proof of eligibility. The offer is good until SNAP benefits are restored or Nov. 12.
“We just know that there are a lot of people in our community in need,” said Pam Johnston, owner of Lakehouse Pizza. She noted that they gave out 25 pizzas to families on SNAP Thursday evening and expects the number to increase daily.
“A lot of people are having a hard time right now,” Johnston said. “We want to do whatever we can do to help out.”
Last Saturday, the Newark Homeless Outreach served 137 people – this was up from the previous 8 week average of 122, according to volunteer Nancy Welu.
The outreach serves mostly unsheltered people, but Welu said she thinks they are seeing more people who are housed. “I don’t ask them, but you kind of get an idea of who is on the street and who isn’t.”
The increase in guests has led to an increased need for food to serve. The organization recently posted on social media a request to recover food from any local businesses.
Welu said that this crisis has got people thinking about ways that they can help reduce waste while also serving others.
For updated food pantry and meal times in Licking County, see this list compiled by The Reporting Project.
Donna Chang, Talya Dersu, Ella Diehl, Mia Fischel, Cynthia Greenleaf, Maddie Luebkert, Jack Shuler, Tyler Thompson and Julia Lerner write for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.