How We Rise Up During the SNAP Shutdown [Self-Love Letter]
Hello There,
TLDR Summary (Too Long, Didn't Read): This past Saturday (November 1), SNAP benefits were shut down. We all know plenty of folks using SNAP to nourish themselves and their loved ones. Our family, friends and so MANY of our Byte Wellness community members rely on the food they purchase to help prevent and manage chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Good news: emergency funding will be transferred to cover part of the benefits for this month. Bad news: we don't know when those emergency funds will actually be transferred to beneficiaries.
The SNAP shutdown affects all of us. If you've lost SNAP funds or you'd like to sponsor groceries for a community member who has, please complete this form to join our Grocery Buddies Program.
Meanwhile, please share resources like this Grocery Buddies Program and donate to your local food pantry (www.findhelp.org) to cover some of the gap. Keep scrolling to read the entire Self-Love Letter.
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Full Text
~3 mins to read; 623 words
Okay, it's been a long minute since we last connected over a Self-Love Letter. It's been an even longer year. In case you needed a reminder (which is likely given how so many of us are feeling), you've got this. Moreover, WE'VE got this. Our communities are infinitely more powerful than any of us could hope to be individually. Working together with all the levels of community in our lives (families, schools, churches, workplaces), we can tackle today's problems and build solutions that heal.
However helpless and hopeless we feel at any given moment, we need to know that, together, we can create solutions that platform love, generate opportunity, honor our environment...,and for goodness' sake, get us out of this current mess we're in.
We're seeing proof of that reality now. Let's set the stage. Unless you've been hibernating all fall (a choice I personally would not fault you for) you've heard that we're in the 5th week of a federal government shutdown here in the United States. Evidence of the disruption seems to echo throughout every sector of our society. To list a few:
1) Tens of thousands of federal workers have been laid off, adding insult to the badly injured labor market. (Remember the headlines about 300,000 Black women who lost or left jobs in the half of 2025?)
2) Emboldened by an extra $170 billion (yes, you read that right) dedicated to "immigration enforcement", ICE and federal troops continue to occupy several cities without invitation from local authorities. They're raiding apartment buildings in the middle of the night and dragging people out of their workplaces in broad daylight.
3) As if the economic pressure and fears for physical safety weren't enough, this last one feels like a direct assault on our health. Now, 42 million Americans are facing down a historic loss of hunger support: a SNAP shutdown this November.
That is to say for the FIRST time ever in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program's (SNAP) existence, its funding was blocked by the government shutdown, meaning that nearly 12% of Americans who receive food assistance lost it on November 1st. Then, as if inflicting pain was the point, the Administration decided not to use the $5 billion emergency fund that could cover half of the shortfall.
In a couple of whirlwind rulings on October 31st , two federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island determined that the government is legally required to apply those emergency funds to cover SNAP losses.
If all this feels like it's too little too late, that's because it is!
It takes states and their vendors weeks to process SNAP funds from the federal government. So even as the Administration says it will comply with the rulings, tens of millions of Americans have officially lost SNAP benefits as of November 1st. That means tens of millions of Americans may not have the nourishment they need for days or weeks until emergency federal funds and/or state funds cover the shortfall (or until the federal government reopens).
We can't let that happen. Together, we can make small actions that have a big impact. It's what our ancestors have done throughout human history, it's how our matriarchs survived long enough to get us here.
Allow me to introduce: our #PhyteWell GROCERY BUDDIES program.
Through this program, inspired by a number of social media posts and articles like this one, folks in our Byte Wellness community can support each other by sponsoring all or part of a grocery budget for this month.
If you'd like to participate by donating or receiving grocery support, please complete this form to make your wishes known.
Let's build the world we want to live in one loving action at a time.
In solidarity,
Dr. Wuse