A golden turkey glistens under the warm glow of overhead lights, steaming mashed potatoes sit next to a warm bowl of gravy, and pumpkin pie waits, cooling off to the side. Family members are gathered, laughing and sharing stories while enjoying the delicious feast. While this Thanksgiving scene may seem familiar to many, families across America struggle for a meal, many without the luxury of a Thanksgiving celebration.

Resulting from a Congress unable to pass spending bills, Oct. 1 to Nov. 12 marked the longest government shutdown in American history. This resulted in 42 million Americans—including one in five residents of St. Louis, MO.—losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. SNAP provides federally funded nutrition benefits to low-income families and individuals with limited resources. This includes people who work part-time jobs or are unemployed, households with children, seniors and those with disabilities. A longstanding and effective program, SNAP ran out of funding nearly a month into the shutdown, impacting every state in a different way. Sickeningly, in Missouri, 650,000 people lost their SNAP benefits in November. Parkway Food Pantry founder and lead mental health specialist at West High Diane Peterson has focused her efforts on those dealing with food insecurity through her role. 

“Not only is it stressful to not know if you’re going to have enough food when you go home after school, but the physical sensation of hunger is considered a form of pain. We tend to think of pain as [something like] a broken bone, but feelings of hunger are actually a form of pain. People who are chronically hungry are also in chronic pain, which is very distracting,” Peterson said.

Without the essential resources of SNAP, food banks and programs during the government shutdown saw a major uptick. Across the country, protesters expressed their concern for a lack of access to the resources they once relied on to put food on their tables.  

“We had several government workers who were on furlough come to [the Parkway Food Pantry] to collect food on Nov. 18, which was our last distribution. We served over 300 families, which is 120 more than we typically serve for the Fall distribution,” Peterson said. “Many of them were close to tears about the stress that they are under, and [they felt] grateful that they had a source of food.” 

The government has an obligation to serve its people, but it failed when it took away food access from millions of Americans. Families, including that of senior Macy Ford’s, found themselves turning to other resources. 

“The government shutdown [and the removal of] SNAP benefits really [impacted] my family and [I]. People have turned to food pantries more than ever because [previously, they had] SNAP as a backbone. With [the government] refusing to fund it, families and people [are] literally starving,” Ford said. “[Food banks] help more than anything, because there [was] no other organization that was nearly as helpful and giving. I think that it’s good that the food bank is a constant thing going forward, [despite] whether or not SNAP is running.”

The harsh reality is that Ford is just one of many students who rely on food assistance programs, but lost access because of the government shutdown. This has made it imperative that communities do their part to fund the resources that those facing a loss of food can turn to. Individuals can donate to food pantries or participate in food drives, just as West High has done.

Even though the government shutdown is over, local organizations are continuing to make huge strides in the global battle against food insecurity. Similar to the emergency contact of 911, 211 is an immediate and dedicated contact for basic needs. This hotline is available when people need life-changing assistance with paying electricity bills or receiving free food. 

Washington University in St. Louis created a data monitoring application, 211 Counts, which found the call center boiled over with calls after the post-shutdown. As the first and only real-time monitoring system in the country, 211 Counts provides raw and localized information across 43 states. Before the shutdown, the hotline had an average of 1,000 calls specifically for food assistance per day. Calls grew by 400%, so Missouri callers are now directed to other resources, such as the fresh produce pantry, Garden of Eden, run by the Saint Louis Jewish Community Center (JCC). At Parkway West High, Key Club president and junior Bethany Liao oversees groups of students who frequently volunteer at the JCC. 

“Every Sunday, we have a volunteer opportunity at the JCC, where volunteers from Key Club can go over and help weed out their garden, manage their garden and plant more seeds. Afterward, these plants [are] harvested and given out to the local community [for free],” Liao said.

During a time of widespread food insecurity, Liao recognizes the growing importance of this particular volunteer opportunity, as it is a small step towards fixing a larger problem. 

“[This opportunity] is very important, not only for us as high school students to make a bigger impact on our communities, but also because there [are] a lot of people in the communities around the JCC that really benefit from our help every week,” Liao said. 

Donating a couple of cans, taking time out to volunteer or even just spreading the word for help makes a huge difference. Local communities must step up and use their resources, especially in times like these, where larger organizations prove themselves not to be reliable, as SNAP was unable to do so on the federal level. Unfortunately, this issue is a genuine problem affecting the people we see everyday, ranging from a neighbor to a peer or colleague. The Parkway community has shown to be one that will take responsibility, make change and fight for a solution. Parkway families are always willing to help by volunteering at food banks, participating in food drives and even shopping for local produce. 

“The Parkway community is so generous. When the communications department put information out about the increased needs for food because of SNAP benefits being cut and the government furlough, the entire Parkway community responded with food drives and financial contributions and volunteers,” Peterson said.

West High hosted a canned food drive from Nov. 17 to Nov. 21, marking their annual canned food drive competition. Stemming from what was once a friendly game between two teachers in the Social Studies department, the event recently evolved into a competition between the Social Studies and English departments in response to the shutdown. This yearly contribution to the food pantry is essential to ensuring families are able to get the food they need. Social studies teacher Rachel Money took a lead role in organizing the food drive.

“This is not the original week we were going to run it, but, because of [the shutdown], we saw [our] communities being affected by that. We wanted to make sure that families who needed [help] had food provided for them. We also know this is a time of year [when] families might need active support. We want to make sure that everyone in the community’s needs are met,” Money said.

Regardless of recent factors shedding light on the food insecurity problem across the country, it is an issue that is often out of people’s control. The unfortunate reality is that asking for help is deeply stigmatized. Many families and individuals feel shame or embarrassment about having to use resources like food banks for their meals. However, communities across the nation are willing to help. Taking brave action and seeking help, many individuals will find a kind response on the other end.

“Needing help has a negative stigma around it, and [some people believe] everyone should be able to support themselves. However, that’s just not the way it is, and it’s a really insensitive way to think about [these major issues] because these are real people that are being affected by it. If you’re one of these people who’s ashamed, don’t be, because everybody goes through hardships. People just need help with different things, sometimes it’s help on your math test, and others, it’s needing help to put food on your table,” Ford said.