As soon as independent grocer Gilpin Matthews found out that political wrangling in Washington, D.C., could threaten funding for SNAP, he turned to a well-worn playbook to ensure no one in the rural community where he lives would go hungry.
Although only a small percentage of shoppers who visit the store he runs on Madeline Island in northern Wisconsin rely on the federally funded nutrition assistance program, Matthews has grown accustomed to supply chain disruptions over the past few years — and made a practice of stockpiling supplies. So when the USDA said it would stop distributing benefits to SNAP participants during the shutdown that paralyzed the government this fall, Matthews decided that if someone’s SNAP card didn’t work, he would give food away for free.
“I [told] my staff, if anybody comes in and their card is not working and it’s not going through because it‘s shut down, call me immediately … and I would treat it like it’s any other major malfunction in the store,” said Matthews, who together with his wife, Lauren Schuppe, owns Darlings Grocery in La Pointe, Wisconsin.
Darlings Grocery is one of many food retailers across the country that took action after the shutdown interrupted SNAP funding. Grocery Dive gathered details from three grocers about how they reacted to the disruptions to the nutrition assistance program.
Cooking up budget-friendly meals
The day before SNAP benefits lapsed on Nov. 1, Midwest grocery chain Hy-Vee unveiled a hot foodservice program at all of its stores to provide free meals to children ages 12 and under and the same meal for $3 for everyone else.
The grocer said it decided to stand up the program after seeing news that food banks were preparing to serve a record number of people in the coming weeks. Hy-Vee partnered with suppliers, growers and CPGs, including Dole Food Company and Pillsbury.
Each day, the program served up a different meal, such as chili, baked potato with pulled pork or spaghetti with meat sauce, for dine-in or to-go during a three-hour window starting at 4 p.m.
Initially, Hy-Vee said it would offer the program from Nov. 3-7, but on the day it was set to end, the grocer decided to extend the initiative for another week, and featured a morning breakfast buffet on the weekend of Nov. 8.
By the time the program wrapped up on Nov. 14, the grocer had fed nearly 900,000 people, the grocer said in an email.
“Hy-Vee always steps up for our communities when there is a need, and we’re thankful to have a great team of helpful smiles and suppliers bring this essential support to life,” the grocer said in a statement.
Along with the meals, Hy-Vee launched a register-roundup campaign to support local food pantries and offered $5 and $10 food bank donation bundles that customers could buy to support local pantries. The grocer also donated $100,000 to Feeding America and provided $25,000 to DoorDash‘s initiative to waive delivery and service fees for SNAP customers.
1,000 turkeys
The lapse in SNAP benefits in early November was just the latest blow for many Washington, D.C., residents in a year riddled with federal worker layoffs. Giant Food, a grocery chain in the nation’s capital, found ways to step up for its community.
The Ahold Delhaize banner doubled its Thanksgiving offering in response to the SNAP funding woes and government shutdown.
On Nov. 25, Giant Food held an event in partnership with the D.C. United Foundation to give away 2,000 Thanksgiving meal bundles, half of which include a turkey and the other half a $15 Giant Food gift card. The grocer received 20,000 sign-ups for the giveaway and offered the meal kits on a first-come, first-served basis outside its O Street location in Washington, D.C. One of the grocer’s chefs even created spice bundles for the kits to help recipients elevate their holiday meal. The event ran until all the food was given away.
“This [giveaway] is something we’ve never done before. … this is a distribution that we’re planning in front of one of our stores, which is completely new — and it’s specifically in response to SNAP [and] impacts to federal workers,” Jonathan Arons, Giant Food’s community relations manager, said in an interview on the eve of the event.
Giant Food also upped its protein and non-perishable goods donations for the holiday. Last year, Giant Food donated 12,000 turkeys, and this year planned to donate over 15,000 turkeys and turkey breasts as well as stuffing, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables, Arons said. Giant Food also started the distribution process earlier this year to give its food bank partners more time to coordinate with recipients.
Stocking up on supplies
Matthews, the co-owner of Darlings Grocery, said he makes sure to keep extra food on hand at all times so he can serve shoppers even if conditions make it difficult for people to access essential goods.
“Whenever I make a large purchase from my distributors, I’m throwing in a 50-pound bag of dried beans or rice, and I’m piling them up in my storeroom, because … we have to provide food,” Matthews said.” “My wife and I’s mission for the last 10 years has been food. That’s our M.O.”
Matthews’ commitment to ensuring that his shoppers have enough to eat stems from personal experience. When he was growing up, Matthews’ family occasionally depended on SNAP, and when he and his wife were expecting their first child, they signed up for WIC.
“I know what it’s like to have to ration out your meals for the week,” he said. “Someone who’s been loaded their whole life [can] say, ‘SNAP is X amount of million dollars, we can get rid of that.’ It‘s easy for them, because they don’t know what it feels like” to go without food.
As he reflects on the vital role Darlings Grocery plays in supplying food to people in La Pointe, a vacation spot whose population includes only a few hundred people in the winter, Matthews said he tries to keep the challenge of running a small grocery store in a complex national environment in perspective.
“We’re always kind of looking at the weirdness that happens and being like, well, what can we do? Can we do anything? No? Then we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and try to do it as best we can,” Matthews said. “You could sink trying to take on Washington as a grocer by yourself.”
