As Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits evaporate because of the federal government shutdown, food pantry managers in tribal communities are looking to hunters and tribal governments to meet a sharp rise in demand.

Nearly 170,000 Mainers — about 12.5% of the state’s population — relied on SNAP to feed themselves in September, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

That includes about 19% of people living on the Penobscot Reservation on Indian Island, 15% of residents on the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Sipayik (Pleasant Point) and over 11% of people living on the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Motahkomikuk (Indian Township), based on 2022 population estimates.

Although the Trump administration announced Monday that it would fund about half the cost of the food aid program for November, states are still waiting on federal directives, and it’s unclear when partial payments might be distributed. Maine typically distributes SNAP funding between the 10th and 14th of each month.

“Once that direction is received, the department stands ready to issue payments to eligible recipients as quickly as possible,” Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for Maine’s health and human services agency, said in an email.

Across Maine, the need for nutritional support has been steadily growing alongside the uncertainty.

“We’re hearing from partner after partner that every month is breaking records,” said Shannon Coffin, vice president of community partnerships at the Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s biggest hunger-relief organization.

It is easier to get aid from pantries than from SNAP. Most pantries require little or no proof of income, and the self-attested income qualifications are far lower. A person making less than $49,950 or households of four making less than $96,450 qualify for emergency food assistance through food pantries in Maine. In contrast, individuals making less than $31,200 or four-person households making less than $64,300 qualify for SNAP.

The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians has expanded its pantry’s hours from two days per week to four, coordinator Ashley Foster-Kinney said. It also has brought on two extra workers.

Typically, the pantry serves 25 or 30 families in a week. That number has doubled in the last two weeks.

In response, the Maliseet tribal government is placing a large order at Hannaford, and Foster-Kinney is calling tagging stations in case trophy hunters abandon the meat of their kills. She also works with Hunters for the Hungry, a state program that covers the cost of processing game so hunters can donate meat to qualified hunger relief stations.

“We were never designed to be the main safety net. We were designed to be the safety net beneath the safety net.”

Shannon Coffin, vice president of community partnerships at the Good Shepherd Food Bank

“We’re kind of prepared for the worst,” said Ralph Francis, Sipayik pantry coordinator. He’s doubled the hours the pantry is open this month.

Sipayik tribal government issued a tag to a tribal hunter, who harvested a deer to split with the pantry on the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Motahkomikuk (Indian Township), Francis said. The Sipayik pantry also secured 500 pounds of moose meat from Canadian hunters.

Visitation to the Penobscot Nation’s pantry on Indian Island jumped 22% last month before SNAP cuts even took place and has strained the resource, which is receiving less food than normal through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program.

“We saw that decline. And now we’re seeing an increased number in the people needing the food bank,” said Michael Augustine, the Penobscot Nation’s director of social services. “We are seeing a crisis at this point.”

Like his Maliseet counterpart, Augustine is looking to Hunters for the Hungry and even roadkill to keep meat in the freezer. The Penobscot Nation Department of Natural Resources issued tags in October for hunters to harvest two moose, which were donated to the community food pantry, and other tribal hunters have also donated moose meat.

Those are opportunities that many other food pantries don’t have, Augustine said. The pantry often gets donations of pasta, bread and foods that are high in carbohydrates or sugars.

“Game is a wonderful source of protein and nutrients,” he said. “And again, it’s all culturally appropriate traditional foods.”

Coffin said Good Shepherd is trying to front-load food allocations and increase the size of regular deliveries to its 600 partner food pantries around the state, about half of which rely exclusively on the distributor for their stock.

Good Shepherd is using the $1.25 million released by Gov. Janet Mills last week to issue $1,000 credits to each of its partners and bolster the distributors produce offerings. But Maine’s SNAP program spends $29 million each month to feed hungry families, and the emergency food assistance network can’t shoulder that burden overnight, she warns.

“We were never designed to be the main safety net,” Coffin said. “We were designed to be the safety net beneath the safety net. And this level of need is not a sustainable thing for the emergency food network to be able to absorb.” 

Reuben M. Schafir is a Report for America corps member who writes about Indigenous communities for the Portland Press Herald.