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Neighbor Impact warns of SNAP disruption; Bend council directs $20,000 one‑time aid
Summary
Molly Heiss, deputy executive director of community services at Neighbor Impact, told the Bend City Council the local food system is strained after a disruption in SNAP benefit flows and a reduction in federal commodities, and the council gave unanimous direction to provide a one‑time $20,000 contribution to Neighbor Impact for emergency food purchases and grocery cards.
Molly Heiss, deputy executive director of community services at Neighbor Impact, told the Bend City Council on Nov. 5 that a disruption in SNAP benefits and a concurrent reduction in federal commodity supplies have left Central Oregon food banks and partner agencies short of food.
“Every meal provided by food banks, SNAP serves nine,” Heiss said, summarizing the scale of the gap and the limits of the food‑bank network to absorb it. She said Neighbor Impact has seen partner‑agency volumes increase sharply and began feeling the loss of federal commodities in May. The agency is raising emergency funds, supplying grocery cards to Head Start families and drawing down reserves to buy food, she said.
Heiss said the governor released $5 million in emergency funds statewide and Central Oregon is expected to receive about $250,000 of that allocation, but that money is still in contracting and will not be immediately deployable. “No single effort can solve this crisis, but every contribution helps someone eat today,” she said.
City Manager Eric King told the council the city would support neighborhood food assistance through an internal campaign and called out a potential one‑time financial contribution from council discretionary funds. After brief discussion about the scale and limits of city intervention, councilors expressed support for a one‑time contribution in the $10,000–$20,000 range and provided unanimous direction to proceed with $20,000 to Neighbor Impact for immediate emergency food purchases and grocery cards.
Neighbor Impact, which serves Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, operates the regional food‑bank network and 15 mobile pantry sites. The agency warned the council that food banking and retail grocery responses are not interchangeable and emphasized the urgency of restoring SNAP payments to full function.
The council encouraged residents to donate, volunteer and use the city’s upcoming internal food‑drive drop‑off locations. Heiss thanked the council and noted that private donors, Deschutes County and PacificSource have provided support as Neighbor Impact stretches purchases and reserves.
The council’s action was a unanimous direction rather than a roll‑call appropriation; staff said formal processing of the contribution will follow ordinary fiscal controls and contracting.
— Sources: Neighbor Impact briefing to Bend City Council, Nov. 5, 2025 (presentation and Q&A).
