In addition to the more than 1,300 Summit County immigrants who will have their federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits eliminated Nov. 1, thousands more local residents will have trouble accessing food as a result of the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.
About 77,000 county residents receive federal food benefits, said Greta Johnson, the director of communications and assistant chief of staff for Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro. Johnson said in an email she was aware of concerns regarding potential disruption to those benefits beginning Nov. 1 but didn’t know any details.
Katie Carver Reed, the vice president and chief operating officer of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, said across the food bank’s eight-county service area, she’s seen the highest demand for food since 2019. In Summit County, in the third week of October, visits were 10% higher than they were for the same week in 2024.
“We’re anticipating demand will increase as well,” Carver Reed said. “We will collaborate as best we can to get more food available to the community.”
She said there’s a lot of anxiety among residents about what will happen — there will likely be a delay in benefits even if the shutdown ends this week, and furloughed workers have already missed their first paycheck. Many families and residents are one missed paycheck away from needing help, she said.
Additionally, Carver Reed said, it’s not clear whether November benefits will be available at all if the federal government doesn’t reopen for another month.
“Of course, that’s an impact to people,” she said.
It’s not just people who are missing needed benefits who are affected. It’s also hurt Ohio grocers because, without benefits, people aren’t shopping for food at stores, Carver Reed said.
“This impacts everyone in the community,” she said. “People don’t think about the mental strain it causes, the amount of planning and thought. … It’s really stressful and really anxiety inducing.”
Food insecurity can be an isolating experience, Carver Reed said, and can affect someone’s sense of belonging. Plus, people who prioritize buying food can get behind on other bills, like rent or mortgage payments, putting them at risk of losing their homes or facing other consequences.
At a food-bank popup at the Akron-Canton airport in late October, Carver Reed said, 70 families were served. She’s trying to find spaces where federal workers and others who are facing a disproportionate impact can find aid.
“The food bank is open, we’re here to serve,” she said. “We’re continuing to try to bring in as much food as possible to meet a spike in demand.”
How and where to get food assistance in the Akron area
Help finding food is available by calling 211 or on the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s website, which has searchable food options by geography and when they are open.
Carver Reed said their own food pantry is available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It also has a popup food truck that travels.
The food bank supplies 628 hunger relief programs across the region. Different programs have different requirements about how often a person can use them, but there is no limit to how many food pantries one can visit. The food bank allows people to use its services once a week.
To access the food bank, people need to provide their name and ZIP code as well as tell providers they do not earn more than 200% of the federal poverty level, which is $31,300 for an individual and $64,300 for a family of four. They do not have to show an ID.