Community donations helped food pantries survive SNAP shutdown

Local donors helped food pantries in Summit and Portage counties meet rising demand last year, even as government funding declined and a temporary SNAP disruption sent more families seeking help for the first time.

The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank distributed more than 42 million pounds of food in 2025, about 5% more than the year before, despite losing an estimated 6 million pounds of food tied to state and federal cuts, said Dan Flowers, president and CEO.

The gap was closed largely through private donations and emergency community support.

“We lost more food than we’ve ever lost in our history, but because of community support, we didn’t lose any ground overall,” Flowers said.

The increase came amid a broader decline in government support. According to the food bank’s fall 2025 impact report, state and federal funding dropped by 36% compared with prior years, even as demand continued to rise across the region.

The strain intensified during the November government shutdown, when a temporary disruption in SNAP benefits sent new clients to food pantries across Northeast Ohio. Flowers said the three-week period created sharper demand spikes than anything the food bank experienced before: even during the pandemic.

“A lot of people came to us during that shutdown who had never been to a food pantry before,” he said.

Over the food bank’s entire service region, from October to November — when the government shutdown delayed distribution of SNAP benefits — the organization saw 765,182 visits by neighbors to food programs in the eight-county service network. That’s an 11% increase over the same timeframe the prior year. The pounds of food those families needed to take home also increased – up 16% to nearly 8.3 million pounds of food in those two months alone.

Breaking it down by county, the food bank reported a 6% increase in both client visits and food distribution for the year in Portage County. Summit County saw an 8% increase in both categories for the year, Flowers said.

Local pantries reported even steeper short-term increases during the shutdown. At the Salvation Army pantry in Ravenna, daily demand jumped from about 25 to 30 families to as many as 75 or 80 families per day, said Major Paul Knickerbocker.

“We more than doubled what we normally see,” Knickerbocker said.

The Salvation Army was able to cover the extra demand, in part thanks to generous donations from the community. Individuals and companies provided the resources needed, Knickerbocker said.

“The community has been very generous. People will call and ask us what we need, or just send a check,” he said.

At Cuyahoga Falls Good Neighbors, the number of families served increased 38% in November, said Donations and Compliance Coordinator Alice Beatty. While demand later leveled off, the pantry remains up 8% overall compared with last year.

“When benefits were originally cut, we saw a big increase in new families,” Beatty said.

Cuyahoga Falls Good Neighbors serves families in Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Munroe Falls, Peninsula, Silver Lake and Stow. The total client base increased 22% in the last quarter of the year, mostly during the SNAP and government funding reductions, Beatty said. The increase included many new families.

Similar to the overall food bank, private citizens stepped up to cover the shortfall. Beatty said private donations increased 29% over the course of the year.

“I really want to thank the community. They were aware that people were being impacted,” Beatty said.

Flowers said the experience underscored the role charitable organizations play alongside public assistance, not as a replacement for it.

“There is a real relationship between SNAP benefit levels and how many people end up going to food pantries,” Flowers said. “When government programs are strong, demand on the charitable network goes down.”

Looking ahead, Flowers said demand in Summit and Portage counties is expected to remain steady this year, barring another shutdown or major economic disruption. His longer-term concern is 2027, when the next state budget cycle could again reduce public food assistance.

“For now, community support made the difference,” he said. “But it’s not something you can assume will always be there.”