The government shutdown might be over, but some are still dealing with the fallout. Many people were forced to use money they typically spend on rent and utility bills for food. While most now have their November SNAP benefits, they’re trying to get caught up in other areas during the most expensive time of the year.
Tavia Tharrington-Baity is a single mom of five in Philadelphia who says she can’t work due to a disability. She homeschools two of her kids and counts on assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The past few weeks have been challenging.
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“It got tough because being a single mom and actually being a disabled single mom, I really had to use what I saved,” Tharrington-Baity said.
She said feeding her children, who are between the ages of 8 and 17, became the priority over other bills. Tharrington-Baity said she even received a shutdown notice from her power company.
“At the same time, I’m on the phone trying to get the electricity to stay on, they turned off the Wi-Fi, because I owed that too, so everything was just falling apart,” she said.
Tharrington-Baity is not alone.
Lydia Gottesfeld, an attorney with Community Legal Services, a program that offers free legal help to low-income Philadelphians, says many of their clients are struggling to get back on track. While most are all caught up on their SNAP benefits, that doesn’t help them pay other bills because SNAP can only be used for food purchases.
“I think November was an incredibly challenging time to go without SNAP, even for just a couple weeks,” Gottesfeld said. “As the weather gets colder and as the holidays approach, people have even more expenses than usual.”
Many SNAP recipients are also eligible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program or LI-HEAP, which is especially important during the colder months. The application process was delayed in Pennsylvania because of the shutdown.
Tharrington-Baity said she plans to apply as soon as the application process opens, now scheduled for Dec. 3. She says one expense she won’t be able to make up in time is gifts for her kids this Christmas. Tharrington-Baity said she’d been saving all year, hoping this December would be different, but had to use that money for groceries.
“I don’t remember the last time I was able to give them a tree and put some presents under a tree for them and actually give them Christmas,” she said.
