The first thing Chris Tan thought about after the federal government shut down Oct. 1 was how many people it would impact.
“As many as 10 percent of the people that live in the Hampton Roads community are somehow connected to the federal government,” said Tan, the CEO of the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore.
Then, he thought about the food assistance military and federal families will need — especially if the shutdown stretches across pay periods.
“That will add a tremendous amount of people that will temporarily need our services, even if they didn't need them prior to the shutdown,” he said.
The shutdown is happening at the same time as levels of food insecurity have hit record highs.
The need for food assistance in Hampton Roads is 30 percent higher than it was at the height of the pandemic, the foodbank reported. Tan points to inflation over the last few years as a major driver. And now, federal and military families don’t know when their next paycheck will come.
Enlisted military families are especially vulnerable to food insecurity. A 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that roughly 25 percent of the military population were food insecure, compared to 10 percent of civilians. Frequent relocations, high rates of spousal un- and underemployment and high costs of living can make it difficult for these families to put food on the table, according to the Military Families Advisory Network’s 2023 report.
Recent policy changes add another layer of uncertainty. New SNAP eligibility rules that took effect Oct. 1 mean fewer people will qualify for assistance from that federal food program, and the federal workers who would help communities through these changes are likely to be furloughed, Tan said.
“When people aren’t getting paid, one of the first things that they’ll do is come find food they don’t have to pay for,” said Joan Berlin, board chair of the Eastern Shore Chapel Food Pantry. “It’s that, or forgo their rent payment or a utility payment.”
During the last government shutdown in 2018, which lasted 35 days, the Eastern Shore Chapel Pantry saw a 15 percent increase in demand — and the operation was smaller back then, Berlin said. She worries the pantry wouldn’t be able to handle that much increased demand this time.
In the last couple months, the pantry has been helping between 225 and 250 households a day. That’s compared to roughly 175 households a day earlier in the year, Berlin said.
“We’re already serving a record number of people, and we’re almost at our max of the number of people we can serve,” she said.
The pantry’s limit depends on the amount of food and number of volunteers to process it, she said. The food comes from the foodbank and Food Rescue US, a nonprofit that brings food to pantries that would otherwise be thrown out by grocery stores and restaurants. Private donations help, she said.
Tan said the foodbank is working with its 226 partner pantries and nonprofits in the area to monitor the situation. If the need for food assistance surges, the foodbank will open additional distribution locations, he said.
Those struggling to access food can go to foodbankonline.org to find a pantry near them. The only information the pantry will collect is the number of people in the household, Tan said.
“There are no qualifications,” he said. “There's no checking on W-2 forms or anything like that. If you say you need food, we want to be there to help you.”