Imagine standing in your kitchen, staring at an empty pantry, your child tugging at your leg, hungry. You have a little gas left in your tank and almost nothing in your wallet. You could use what’s left to get to the grocery store, but there’s nothing to spend once you get there. You could drive to a St. Vincent de Paul dining room, where your family can sit down to a hot meal, at least for tonight.
This is a reality for many people around the state, and country.
“Just this week, a mother cried in our dining room,” said Jessica Berg, Chief Program Officer at St. Vincent de Paul Arizona. “She shared about having zero food in her pantry and little money for gas. She decided to sacrifice the gas to get her family to our dining room for dinner.”
This is not a choice anyone should have to make, but it is the choice many in the Valley are making right now, in growing numbers.
Nearly 500,000 Arizonans have been cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), representing the steepest decline of 49.12% in program enrollment across the country since the federal H.R. 1 law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed. This represents the largest cuts to SNAP in history.
In the Community: What St. Vincent de Paul Is Seeing
St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) has increased food allotments to neighborhood pantries and has seen an increase in calls for food box deliveries. Meal counts are going up in the Family Dining Room, and the food distribution drive-through lines are getting longer.
“Before the disruptions, SNAP used to provide nine meals for every one meal food charities provided,” Berg said. “It’s a large task for food charities to take on that discrepancy in such little time.”
The people coming back have also shifted. Families navigating new work requirements, households returning to the Family Dining Room after being independent, and those who are struggling to keep their homes due to the food costs.
“Hunger affects more households than most would suspect — well beyond the stereotypes of impoverished families,” she said. “We’re talking about our neighbors.”
SVdP has installed computer stations at its facilities so families can complete SNAP applications online and is working to secure a dedicated phone line for guests to contact DES.
What to Know
Work requirements: Adults 18–64 without qualifying dependents must now demonstrate 80 hours per month of work, job training, or volunteering. Exemptions remain for those who are pregnant, have a documented physical or mental disability, are Native American as defined by the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, have children 14 and younger at home, or are under 18.
Immigration: Refugees, asylees, and others with humanitarian statuses are no longer eligible as of March 1. In mixed-status households, only the ineligible member is removed, but U.S.-born children and other eligible members can still receive benefits.
Benefit amounts: According to the Arizona Food Bank Network partner update, the maximum monthly benefit for a single person is now $298. A family of four can receive up to $994, though the average family of four receives $715.
If you need help now: Call 2-1-1 or visit 211Arizona.org for food pantries, meal sites, and emergency resources in English, Spanish, and other languages. The Department of Economic Services can be reached at 1-800-252-5942, though wait times are significant. St. Vincent de Paul’s statewide food drive, Feeding Our Neighbors Together, accepts donations that stay local: svdpaz.org.
“Families should have the option for in-person support when needed, as well as reliable access to caseworkers who can provide accurate information and guidance,” Berg said.
The gap between what families can access and what the system promises is being filled to the best of their ability by food banks, and neighbors.
“Times like these call for us to remember the humanity in each other,” Berg said, “and to act on our hearts to do the right thing — to care and make sure that our neighbors are fed.”
