In the coming days, Maine has an important choice to make: Do we reinstate a public-private partnership that has proven to significantly reduce rates of poverty and food insecurity, or do we choose to let thousands of our neighbors face hunger and put unnecessary demand on an already-taxed charitable food network? L.D. 1584, An Act to Provide Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to Temporarily Restore Benefits Being Reduced by the Federal Government, is being considered by the Maine Legislature, and our time to act is now.

As we shared last fall, a historic combination of public and private efforts to increase access to food during the pandemic led to Maine’s lowest rates of hunger in nearly 20 years. While Good Shepherd Food Bank and partner hunger-relief organizations across the state translated unprecedented philanthropic support and increased supplies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program into record-breaking food distribution across the charitable food network, federal and state governments intervened with temporary increases in monthly SNAP benefit allocations that helped stabilize household budgets for 170,000 Mainers. Data collected in 2021, at the height of these public-private interventions, show that Maine’s food insecurity rates fell below the national average and poverty rates decreased by 13.5%.

This public-private partnership born out of the COVID-19 crisis proved what we’ve known for a long time: The charitable food network alone will not end hunger, and adequate funding and expansion of SNAP benefits effectively and efficiently fight financial insecurity and hunger in our communities. Despite this learning, pandemic-era SNAP increases ended in February, with an average reduction of $190 per month per recipient. All told, the rollback removed $17 million in benefits to Mainers each month, which then rippled through our communities and increased demand for the charitable food network.

Good Shepherd Food Bank and the network of 600 hunger-relief partners across the state are resilient, innovative and responsive, but we cannot fill the gap created when public-sector programs are not adequately funded. We are distributing millions more meals than we did before the pandemic, but we cannot make up for the stress caused in household budgets when statewide SNAP benefits drop by $17 million per month.

Food pantry staff and volunteers across the state are feeling the pain of these cuts along with our neighbors who are experiencing hunger. They feel like they are failing, but the system is failing. The physical, emotional and financial impacts of hunger are well-researched and documented and will be felt by all of us. It will cost us more to deal with the effects of not addressing this issue than it will if we invest in mitigating and preventing it.

Passing L.D. 1584 immediately reinstates the pandemic-era SNAP allotments that were pulled back in February and then gradually reduces them over the coming months, providing more financial stability to Maine households.

L.D. 1584 is not a long-term solution, however. Several states are considering permanently increasing monthly minimum SNAP allocations to continue to invest in this proven intervention for poverty and hunger, and we urge Maine to do the same.

Let’s lead in this moment. Let’s partner to improve the health and lives of our neighbors. Let’s feed Maine, together.

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