Bread of the Mighty in Gainesville started an emergency food distribution program last week to deal with higher demand from SNAP recipients and other food-insecure families in Alachua, Levy, Gilchrist and Union counties.  

The emergency program starts as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ends because of the federal shutdown. The money that usually arrives with the first of the month didn’t come for November.  

Patrick Dodds, executive director of Bread of the Mighty, told Mainstreet that even if the federal government ended the shutdown today, funding to restart SNAP would still be weeks away and the dominoes of local impacts have already begun falling. 

“We are in the throes of the crisis, regardless of what happens today or tomorrow,” he said. 

Since 1987, Bread of the Mighty has provided food to families and individuals in need. Dodds said the nonprofit gives food to around 150 partner pantries, ministries and community resource centers in its four-county service territory.  

From the Cedar Key Food Pantry to Windsor Baptist Church, Bread of the Mighty transports 200,000 pounds of food weekly. But Dodds said the partners are reporting double the number of people showing up at giveaways. 

Even before SNAP ended a few days ago, Dodds said there’s been a 100% increase in food requests for the past two months compared with the two months prior to that, as uncertainty around SNAP started to build.  

There are around 33,000 SNAP recipients in Alachua County who now have less budgeted money for food. 

Dodds said recipients of SNAP must now rely more heavily on food pantries or spend more money that is already earmarked for rent or childcare or other needs. He noted it’s not just SNAP recipients who need help, but thousands of other residents are also food insecure, listing the number at around 50,000 for Alachua County. 

Bread of the Mighty provides the same pounds of food as before, but more recipients mean less per family or more families who miss out once the supplies are gone.  

To address the growing gap, Dodds said Bread of the Mighty began buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of food with reserve funds.  

Bread of the Mighty’s emergency distribution program involves preparing small, medium and large boxes to distribute.  

On Tuesday, the program received a $100,000 boost from the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The Gainesville City Commission matched the amount on Thursday, and Dodds said he plans to meet with the Children’s Trust of Alachua County on Friday. 

The BOCC designated another $100,000 for other food programs that provide fresh produce as a supplement to the boxed foods. 

Emergency Food Distribution Program Breakdown: 

Small Box 

• 1-2 days of food for a family of four 

• Costs $11 

Medium Box 

• 3-4 days of food for a family of four 

• Costs $21 

Large Box 

• 5-7 days of food for a family of four 

• Costs $30 

Dodds said the nonprofit has small boxes ready for distribution, with medium and large boxes ready in the next week. It’s an interim solution for a federal problem that has no set end date, and he said Bread of the Mighty can’t keep it up with just reserve dollars.  

Unlike normal food distribution, Dodds said the nonprofit has charged partner agencies for the emergency box supplies so that Bread of the Mighty can recoup most of the cost and buy more food.  

Dodds told the BOCC and City Commission that the crisis hits at a particularly tough time because of the holidays. 

“There’s never a good time for something like this to happen, but if you had to pick the worst time, it’d be the holiday season,” Dodds said on Thursday. 

Bread of the Mighty still plans to hold its normal turkey distributions for Thanksgiving Day, but with SNAP dollars as supplements, food banks are being stretched.  

An anonymous High Springs business owner donated $5,000 to Deeper Purpose Community Church earlier this week to buy 50 $100 Winn-Dixie gift cards for SNAP recipients in the area. According to a post by the church, another 100 gift cards were given to Winn-Dixie to distribute.  

Creekside Community Church announced a canned drive to raise funds for Gainesville Community Ministry, where requests for food have tripled, according to a church release. 

Dodds said Bread of the Mighty also accepts nonperishable donations, like canned food, but he said people who want to help should consider donating the money instead of buying food to donate. While not as personal as buying and giving food, he said it makes the money go further. 

Dodds explained that for every $10 someone spends at a grocery store, they can probably buy five pounds worth of food to donate. But with a $10 donation, Dodds said Bread of the Mighty can buy 75 pounds of food.  

He said the food bank network is sophisticated, with partners around the state buying in bulk at wholesale prices.