Mayor Ted R. Green
EAST ORANGE — A press conference was held on the steps of city hall to announce the city’s strategic plan to deal with the loss of federal SNAP benefits but to also rally residents and ask them to look out for their neighbors in the days ahead.
“We are here because our friends and neighbors, some 5,000, are worried about how they will put food on the table,” Mayor Ted R. Green said, citing the number of people in the city receiving SNAP benefits.
SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides food assistance to families with low incomes to help them buy groceries. The monthly benefit in New Jersey varies by household size and income, with the maximum for a family of three being $785 and for a family of four being $994.
“Washington is targeting our most vulnerable,” Green said. “We are all united in one mission to make sure no one in East Orange goes hungry.”
President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP after two judges ruled it must.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the federal government shutdown.
The program costs more than $8 billion per month nationally and serves one in eight Americans. About 120,000 residents in Essex County rely on SNAP benefits.
The federal government has an emergency fund of $4.65 billion so it’s not clear how much beneficiaries will receive and when they will receive it. It’s also unclear what will happen if the shutdown continues into December.
Green led the press conference which brought together the mayor, City Council Chair Vernon Pullins Jr., Superintendent of Schools Christopher Irving,
State Sen. Britnee Timberlake, Manager of Senior Services Rita Butts-Stephens plus faith leaders including Bishop Wayne N. Bullock of Guiding Star Church and Rev. Thurselle Chisolm-Williams of New Hope Baptist Church.
Bullock opened the event with a prayer, asking God to bring people together to face the struggle ahead.
“We pray you will continue to provide and bless us,” Bullock said.
Green followed and said the gathering was to draw attention to the fact that some people in the community are going to need some help.
Green said people impacted by the loss of SNAP are hardworking people trying to stretch every dollar and many are veterans or seniors.
The city is working with faith leaders and local non profits to try and fill the gaps that would be created by a loss of federal money.
“This is a whole city effort,” Green said. No child, no senior, no veteran will be left behind, he said.
Green said he knew people who would be impacted by the loss of SNAP and he would be remembering them in the weeks ahead.
“Are we going to step up and remember those we know who don’t have what they need,” Green said. “If I’ve got sugar or coffee or bread, I’m going to share.”
The city is working on a voucher program that would allow residents who have lost SNAP benefits to get food from local merchants, he said.
“Nobody is going to save us but us,” Green said. “We can’t rely on those guys in Washington to do anything for us or other urban communities..”
Pullins said the council is working side by side with the mayor and Council Member Naiima H. Fauntleroy will be in charge of making sure assistance is delivered to people who have lost SNAP benefits.
“I stand before you not just as your councilwoman but as your sister, neighbor, friend,” said Fauntleroy. “This is a crisis.”
The people most impacted are seniors, people working two jobs, veterans, she said.
“SNAP is not a hand out. It’s a lifeline,” Fauntleroy said. “I see you, we see you and we are fighting for you.”
Among the actions being taken are expanding access to local, existing food pantries and arranging for transportation to food pantries. Details will be posted on the city’s social media sites in upcoming days.
“We need everyone to stand up,” Fauntleroy said. “Check in on your neighbors. Share what you can. When history looks back on this moment, it will see we can’t be broken.”
Irving told the crowd of more than 100 people that the district provides 14,000 meals a week to its more than 8,500 students. In addition to breakfast and lunch, the district also makes dinner available to those students in need.
“We will do everything we can to make sure no child in East Orange goes hungry,” Irving said.
Rita Butts-Stephens, manager of Senior Services in the city, said she was concerned about seniors and disabled residents in the days ahead. She noted that someone who is already sick with something like diabetes will get sicker and require hospitalization if they don’t get proper food.
“Cutting SNAP will lead to the worsening of medical conditions,” Butts-Stephens said. “We have to look out for each other, help each other.”
Also speaking was Chesney Blue, who is manager of the East Orange Women, Infants, and Children (W.I.C.) program, which is a health and nutrition program that provides free healthy foods, nutrition education, and referrals to other services for low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five.
“W.I.C. benefits are not affected at this time but if the shutdown continues, they will be,” Blue said.
Timberlake spoke emotionally about the shutdown.
“I’m disgusted by these men who would rather make a statement than feed a hungry child,” she said. As a mother of a young child, she said she couldn’t help but think of other mothers who would now have trouble feeding their children.
The state senator also said that she gets a delivery of food for those in need each week at her office and people are welcome to come and take what they need.
She also said she introduced a bill into the state legislature to use $30 million to provide food to those in need during this time.
Green said the city’s Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs will play a key role in filling the gap going forward. The department has already been distributing food to those in need each week on Fridays. The food comes from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.
“We want to get in front of this thing,” Green said, later adding; “Please don’t allow people in our community to not eat.”
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