In a letter sent to state leaders, the USDA said money to fill EBT cards for SNAP recipients has run out.
INDIANAPOLIS — On Day 21 of the government shutdown, Gleaners Food Bank is sounding the alarm about what a continued shutdown could mean for Hoosiers amid already rising food insecurity.
13News obtained a letter sent by the Food and Nutrition Service, part of the USDA, that says, in part, “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”
Around 600,000 Hoosiers receive SNAP benefits. According to FSSA, about 15% of households in Marion County received SNAP benefits in March 2025 — about 130,806 people. The average person receiving benefits received $206.32 in benefits that month.
“We’re in an environment where need is going up,” said Gleaners President and CEO Fred Glass. “I respectfully suggest, in a lot of ways, needlessly, these are self-inflicted wounds, shutting down the government and cutting back on SNAP. We’ll do everything we can to fill the void, but that’s really a job so big the federal government’s gonna have to step up to do it.”
Glass worries the food bank network won’t be able to keep up with an increased demand. Approximately 150,000 Hoosiers are part of the WIC program, which Glass said it also expected to run out of funding at the end of the month. Thousands of federal employees in Indiana are working without a paycheck and could need extra help, too.
“It would probably take several Gleaners to meet the need that’s being created by the federal government,” he said. “We’re not going to have five Gleaners able to do that.”
Gleaners was told it could not order food from the federal government during the shutdown. For every meal Gleaners provides, the federal government provides nine, Glass said.
“We are right on the cliff of, I think a real humanitarian disaster is not too big of a word, as people lose the pay and benefits that they’ve come to rely on and that they deserve,” he said.
During the government shutdown, Gleaners is partnering with TSA to provide special food distributions of fresh produce, milk, eggs, protein and other healthy dry goods to its employees at the Indianapolis International Airport. To date, 225 of its 350 TSA employees have signed up for the food distribution.
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