Video Transcript: Syracuse church food pantry fills in after SNAP benefits cut
Charlene Nomeny: In Westcott, the Vineyard Church runs one of many pantries serving the community. According to their website, they served over a million meals across Central New York last year. Pastor Jean Holm has served in Syracuse for four years.
Jean Holm: Okay, so back in, oh, about 25 years ago, we had a couple in our state fair vineyard church who saw a need for some families that just needed food. So it’s through their need. It was the Buckman family that they decided we need to start helping out these people in need. And it’s through them that they got a hold of the food bank. And through the food bank, we started a food pantry.
Nomeny: Pastor Jean is in charge of all their food pantry locations, including Westcott, the State Fair, and Auburn. Their Wesctott pantry runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturdays. The number of people the pantry serves has been changing for months.
Holm: We saw a significant increase and it was increasing every year, constantly a curve up.
Nomeny: And since the shutdown, things have been even more hectic here. Roy Bonner has been getting food from the Vineyard pantry for six months.
Roy Bonner: I’m a senior citizen, so I’m on a fixed income. So with the prices going up and everything, you need to have something to fall back on.
Nomeny: He says he’s noticed a significant increase in people coming for food on Saturday
Bonner: I usually get here about between 7:30 and 8 o’clock and I’m usually number between 45 to 60. Today I got here at the same time and I was 146.
Nomeny: Pastor Jean says the pantry changed their policies due to the SNAP cuts, allowing people to visit as much as they need, instead of limiting it to twice a month.
Holm: So today we had over 360 households, which is averaging about three to four people per household. So that’s averaging about 1,200 families or people that we serve today.
Nomeny: Many of the volunteers on Saturday were first-timers, like student Ebube Chukwukaeme.
Ebube Chukukaeme: I’m new in the U.S., and coming here for the first time, I felt the kind of love and kind of It was really, really interesting to see people that really wanted to help others. So I wanted to be a part of it.
Nomeny: The government shutdown has been the longest in U.S. history, and been very stressful for many Americans.
Bonner: We’ll be glad when this confusion is over.
Nomeny: From Wescott, I’m Charlene Nomeny with NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The Vineyard Church runs one of many pantries serving Westcott and the surrounding neighborhoods. According to their website, they served over a million meals across Central New York last year. Pastor Jean Holm has served in Syracuse for four years.
“Okay, so back in, oh, about 25 years ago, we had a couple in our state fair vineyard church who saw a need for some families that just needed food,” Pastor Jean said. “It was the Buckman family that they decided we need to start helping out these people in need. And it’s through them that they got a hold of the food bank. And through the food bank, we started a food pantry.”
Pastor Jean is in charge of all their food pantry locations, including Westcott, the State Fair, and Auburn.
Their Wesctott pantry runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturdays. The number of people the pantry serves has been changing for months.
“Yes, we see, we saw up until last September, wait a minute, no, we saw a significant increase and it was increasing every year, constantly a curve up,” Pastor Jean said.
Saturday’s food pantry was more hectic than usual. Roy Bonner has been getting food from the Vineyard pantry for six months.
“I’m a senior citizen, so I’m on a fixed income. So with the prices going up and everything, you need to have something to fall back on,” Bonner said.
He said he noticed a significant increase in people coming for food on Saturday
“I usually get here about between 7:30 and 8 o’clock and I’m usually number between 45 to 60. Today I got here at the same time and I was 146,” Bonner said.
The pantry changed its policies due to the SNAP cuts, allowing people to visit as much as they need, instead of limiting it to twice a month. Vineyard saw the increase in visitors immediately.
“So today we had over 360 households, which is averaging about three to four people per household. So that’s averaging about 1,200 families or people that we serve today,” Pastor Jean said.
New York State emergency SNAP funds hit Sunday, but many people at the Vineyard food pantry needed help making it there.
Many of the volunteers on Saturday were first-timers, like student Ebube Chukwukaeme.
“I’m new in the US, and coming here for the first time, I felt the kind of love and kind of It was really, really interesting to see people that really wanted to help others. So I wanted to be a part of it,” Chukwukaeme said.
Some volunteers started because of the SNAP cuts.
“I’ll never understand what they go through, but I know that I can help out,” said Joshua Symborski, a music teacher and veteran.
The government shutdown has been the longest in U.S. history, and has been very stressful for many Americans.
“We’ll be glad when this confusion is over, things go back to normal, or what can be as normal as possible.”
The shutdown is expected to end Wednesday.