The situation is growing more urgent for the 1.4 million North Carolinians who rely on SNAP, the federal food assistance program.
Full benefits for November remain on hold as the Trump administration appeals a lower court ruling that ordered the government to distribute payments in full this month.
With no clear timeline for when full benefits may arrive, local food assistance organizations are feeling the strain.
'We are maxed out.'
On Monday morning, a line of cars wrapped around the block outside a community center on Tuckaseegee Road in west Charlotte. Volunteers with Nourish Up, formerly Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays, loaded boxes of canned goods and fresh strawberries into open trunks.
To receive food here, visitors must show either an EBT card or proof of federal employment. And demand is high.
“We have over 700 people signed up for this food share just this very morning,” said Tina Postel, CEO of Nourish Up.
She said the organization has seen a sharp rise in requests for help since it became clear that November’s SNAP benefits would be delayed.
“The week prior, before SNAP benefits even dropped, it was a 20% increase. And now we've seen another 20% on top of that. So we are maxed out,” she said.
Mecklenburg County has roughly 140,000 residents relying on SNAP each month — nearly the same number of people Nourish Up helped feed across the entire previous year.
The county’s SNAP recipients typically receive more than $20 million in benefits each month. Nourish Up’s annual grocery and Meals on Wheels budget is about $7 million.
“We’re doing everything that we can to try and help all those that we can,” Postel said, “but we cannot take the place of the federal government.”
Some recipients got as little as $16 in partial benefits
Some SNAP recipients waiting in line said they had received partial payments on Friday, but not enough to help them feel secure.
Waiting in an old red sedan was Roger Trexler, who said he received only $16 in partial SNAP benefits on Friday. He normally receives around $100.
Trexler is retired, on disability, and helps support his wife, adult son, son’s partner, and a nine-month-old baby.
Others, like Michelle Sands, say they’ve received nothing, and haven't heard anything from state or federal officials about when they might expect payments.
“I keep looking online. And I even called my card, and still nothing,” she said.
Delays come as pantries prepare for a busy Thanksgiving
Last week, a federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to issue full SNAP payments for November. But the Supreme Court has paused that order while the administration appeals.
Meanwhile, the Senate has voted to advance a deal to end the federal shutdown, but it still needs final passage in both chambers and the president’s signature — meaning the timing of any resolution remains uncertain.
The delays are hitting just as food assistance organizations are preparing for Thanksgiving, their busiest season.
Nourish Up ordered its Thanksgiving turkeys back in August, long before the shutdown began, and Postel said the organization doesn’t have enough cold storage to add more, even if new supplies were available.
“We certainly have a freezer full of turkeys right now,” she said, “but with 140,000 people not sure where their next Thanksgiving meal might come from, I don’t have enough cold storage space to feed those kinds of numbers.”
North Carolina health officials say they are prepared to release full SNAP benefits immediately once the shutdown ends or the courts allow payments to resume.
But for now, many families' best hope is here, waiting in a line of cars for a box of food that will hopefully last a week.
