Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor

This story was updated for accuracy. It previously said that “the Student Government Association voted to reallocate $1,700 from the museum initiative budget to three different items, including $550 to the food pantry.” It was changed to say “a food pantry on campus.”

Heather Starr Fiedler went to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to pick up items for the monthly Produce Pop Up at Point Park University on Wednesday.

She was greeted by empty shelves in parts of the food bank and a line of people outside.

For the first time, she had to go to Giant Eagle to ensure she had enough produce for the pop-up event.

“I was shocked to see so many people wrapped around the building and so little food,” said Starr Fiedler, who is the managing director for the center for civic and community engagement at Point Park.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were stopped on Saturday because of the federal government shutdown. About 2 million people receive SNAP benefits in Pennsylvania, according to the commonwealth’s website.

On Monday, the Trump administration said it will partially fund the food-assistance benefits throughout the shutdown.

But the halt in benefits has already taken a toll on the food banks in the area.

“The lapse in SNAP benefits as a result of the federal government shutdown created a surge in demand for food at a time when food resources were already stretched thin,” said Christa Johnson, communications specialist for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Parke Wilde, a food economist and professor at Tufts University, said that the scale of the emergency food system is smaller than the scale of the federal nutrition assistance program.

“Nobody should think of that as filling the gap,” Wilde said.

For every meal the food banks provide, SNAP provides nine, Johnson said.

The food bank, which has partnerships with college campus food pantries such as Duquesne, already served more meals than it has in its history prior to the lapse in SNAP benefits, Johnson said. In 2020, they distributed 40 million meals, and this past fiscal year they served 53 million.

On top of the effects of the federal government shutdown, the network is not receiving state funding because of the current budget impasse, Johnson said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday directed $5 million in state funding to Feeding Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that helps distribute food in the commonwealth’s 67 counties.

“Even with this critical support, we continue to be concerned about the sheer size of the gap with the lapse in SNAP benefits,” Johnson said.

‘A one-two punch’

Prior to the halt on the benefits, President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which was passed in July, introduced new work requirements for non-disabled adults under 64. Additionally, the bill incorporated a new funding model, which transferred larger expenses to the state, costing Pennsylvania more than $300 million, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“That’s really a one-two punch of two pieces of hard news for low-income food consumers,” Wilde said. “I think it’s going to be a very hard month.”

Wilde said that a halt in SNAP benefits has not happened during other federal government shutdowns because they did not occur at the start of a fiscal year, before the money had been given to the state agencies that carry out the program.

“Also, I think in the past, people just had a sense that you wouldn’t let people actually just go hungry,” he said.

On-campus pantries

Point Park student Jasmine Culpepper said she and her family received SNAP benefits since she was a child.

This was always beneficial to them because her mom could not work.

Culpepper said the recent lapse of the benefits has taken a toll on her.

But because of resources at Point Park such as the Pioneer Pantry Corner Store and the Produce Pop Up she is able to acquire the healthy foods she needs.

“It feels great because I am able to access a lot of things,” Culpepper said.

Although the Pioneer Pantry Corner Store has not seen the impact from the halt in SNAP Benefits, there has been an increase in demand for the pantry throughout the fall semester, Starr Fiedler said.

“I think people are just generally struggling with higher food prices and the unknown about SNAP,” she said.

Food prices in August 2025 were 3.2% higher than in August 2024, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Linda Rendulic, who manages the McAnulty Food Pantry on Duquesne’s campus, said that they do not question anyone who comes to the food pantry, so they do not know if the lapse in SNAP benefits has impacted anyone.

The pantry is located in rooms 347-350 in College Hall and is open five days a week. Rendulic said they serve more than 100 individuals each month, and in the month of October they had 60 new people using the pantry.

On Wednesday, the Student Government Association voted to reallocate $1,700 from the museum initiative budget to three different items, including $550 to a food pantry on campus.

Paige Swanstein, the co-founder of the Student Basic Needs Coalition, said it is important for universities to help students during this time. She said that they can provide financial assistance, have a campus food pantry, share updates on the status of SNAP benefits and share alternate resources for students such as places where they can get food.

But, Swanstein emphasized that food pantries are not a supplement for SNAP benefits.

“Food pantries, no matter how well resourced they are, cannot fill the gap that these benefits are leaving for students. It’s just simply impossible,” she said. “Students will have to make really hard choices between eating, paying rent [and] staying in school.”

Stress beyond the classroom

Swanstein said that although there is a misconception that college students only rely on their families for financial support, that is not always the case.

“These students have a lot of priorities and a lot of needs beyond just being a student,” she said.

The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs found that 41% of students from 91 colleges and universities experienced food insecurity throughout the 2023-24 school year.

Starr Fiedler said the confusion on whether people will continue to receive SNAP benefits or not is impacting their academic performance.

“It’s really hurting their mental health because it’s adding a lot of stress into their lives,” Starr Fiedler said.

“When you’re stressed or when you’re hungry and your mental health isn’t good, you’re not learning as well as you should be.”

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu