Love Chapel is on pace to soar past its all-time monthly record for families served in a month as the Trump administration fights a court order requiring the full payment of food assistance amid the government shutdown.
A total of 545 families sought food assistance from Love Chapel during the first five days the pantry was open this month, according to executive director Kelly Daugherty.
If that pace continues, Love Chapel could serve roughly 2,725 families this month — 1.6 times the previous record of 1,698 families served in a single month.
“I have no doubts we’re going to set a record,” Daugherty said. “It’s a question of how high that record is going to be.”
The record-high demand for food at Love Chapel comes as uncertainty persists for nearly 5,400 low-income Bartholomew County residents who receive food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
A total of 5,382 Bartholomew County residents — 2,735 households — received a collective $1.01 million in SNAP benefits in September, according to the latest data from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. Love Chapel puts the number of affected local households at more than 3,000.
SNAP payments lapsed a week ago after the Trump administration initially refused to tap billions in reserve funds Congress had designated for the program in the event of funding emergencies, The Associated Press reported.
While the Trump administration said Monday it would partially fund SNAP for November — following rulings by two judges requiring the government to keep the program running — it is unclear when or how much people would receive the payments.
But by Tuesday, President Donald Trump appeared to contradict his own administration’s position and the court orders, saying the federal government would stop administering the program altogether until the end of the government shutdown, according to wire reports.
The White House then walked back Trump’s comments, with press secretary Karoline Levitt saying the administration continues to pay out SNAP funding using contingency funding, which is what two separate judges ordered on Monday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to freeze SNAP payments starting Nov. 1 because of a lapse in funds during the government shutdown.
In a social media post Tuesday morning, Trump said SNAP benefits had been handed out “haphazardly” under his predecessor, according to wire reports. SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” Trump added.
The government says the emergency fund it will use has enough to cover about half the normal benefits. Leavitt said Trump “does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future,” which is what he meant by his social media post earlier in the day.
On Friday, the administration asked a federal appeals court to block a judge’s order that it distribute November’s full monthly SNAP food benefits amid a U.S. government shutdown, even as at least some states said they were moving quickly to get the money to people, according to wire reports.
The judge gave the Trump administration until Friday to make the payments through SNAP. But the administration asked the appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.
“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers. Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend,” the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in its request to the court.
In response, attorneys for the cities and nonprofits challenging Trump’s administration said the government has plenty of available money and the court should “not allow them to further delay getting vital food assistance to individuals and families who need it now.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the SNAP program, has said in a court filing that it could take weeks or even months for people to receive the reduced payments.
For low-income Bartholomew County families, it will be at least another week before they will receive reduced food assistance benefits for November, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
FSSA said Wednesday that it was recalculating benefit allotments to 274,000 SNAP households in the state. Benefit changes made by federal officials will reduce the maximum amount to a household by at least 50%.
The agency said November SNAP benefit distribution “will be delayed by at least one week.”
States are taking different approaches to food aid, with some saying they stand ready to distribute SNAP money as quickly as possible. Others are waiting for further guidance.
Several states have announced plans, including some with bipartisan support, to funnel reserve funds to SNAP recipients or boost funding to food pantries, according to wire reports.
At least for now, Indiana lawmakers have opted against doing so. Republicans on Indiana’s State Budget Committee have rejected an effort to direct state surplus funding to low-income Hoosiers and food banks as federal SNAP benefits lapse, The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
While the shutdown continues, local organizations say they will be relying on donations and prayer to make sure Bartholomew County residents don’t go hungry.
About 6,000 Bartholomew County residents — around 1,500 families — turn to Love Chapel for food each month, Daugherty said. At least two-thirds of them receive SNAP benefits.
Love Chapel generally spends “somewhere in the neighborhood” of $350,000 to $360,000 per month on food, Daugherty said. Even if local residents receive half of their SNAP benefits this month, that could add demand for an additional $500,000 in food this month.
“We have to prepare for the worst,” Daugherty said previously. “…We’re going under the premise that nobody is going to receive any payments in the month, and that we’re going to try and meet the needs the best we can under those circumstances.”
Love Chapel has started a SNAP Benefit Relief Fund for online donations at givebutter.com/iDIOrP.
“All of the money that’s donated for that will go to help replace food that our folks on SNAP have gotten cut out of,” Daugherty said.
