Unidentified St. Mary's County speaker urges $250,000 fund-balance set-aside for food banks ahead of possible SNAP disruption

An unidentified speaker during a St. Mary's County meeting said a federal government shutdown could prevent SNAP benefit cards from being refilled beginning Nov. 1 and urged county officials to set aside $250,000 from the county's fund balance to support local food banks.

The speaker said they "were involved in the phone call yesterday with the local food banks, scribe board, the health department, several of our partners, EMS, regarding what's gonna happen November 1 if SNAP benefits don't, get those cards don't get refilled." He said Feed Saint Mary's currently had about 30 days of supply at existing demand and that St. Mary's Soup Kitchen or "Saint Mary's Caring" provided about "10,000 meals a month" during the COVID period, but added, "Now I should check that number."

Why it matters: SNAP payments are a primary food resource for many low-income households; a lapse in electronic benefit transfers could sharply increase demand for emergency food providers. The speaker argued the county can respond quickly by using its fund balance to buy discounted food through local distribution networks.

Details from the meeting: the speaker described the call participants as local food banks, the health department and EMS and said they can buy food at discounts and have warehousing and distribution capacity. The speaker proposed, "I'd be supportive of taking $250,000 of fund balance next week and putting it towards our food banks," and added, "This would be something for us to put our money where our mouth is. This is gonna be very impactful. We need to do something about it." The transcript does not record a formal motion, vote or approval on that proposal.

The speaker also referenced a national labor union appeal, saying the American Federation of Government Employees asked Democrats to back a continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown. The speaker summarized reported Senate voting patterns they had seen, noting "all the Republican senators except 1" voted for the measure and "all the Democratic senators except 3" voted against it; those characterizations are presented as the speaker's account.

What was not resolved: the transcript does not record a formal board vote, the identity of the speaker, or a specific county appropriation or ordinance authorizing the $250,000 transfer. The 10,000-meals-per-month figure for the local soup kitchen was described by the speaker as approximate and he said he would check the number. No timeline for a potential county action beyond "next week" was recorded.

The meeting closed with community reminders about Halloween and to turn clocks back for daylight saving time.