JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As the Government shutdown wraps up its 39th day, Feeding Northeast Florida and Impact Church held a massive food distribution to help roughly 1,000 local families in need.
Action News Jax Madison Foglio spoke with people picking up food and heard just how hard it’s been for them.
“We’ve been having to get very creative,” said Jacksonville resident Lisa Taylor. “It’s a different world.”
Lisa Taylor is one of the hundreds of people who waited in line for hours to pick up her box of food. She tells me she has received some SNAP benefits since the government shutdown started, but putting food on the table hasn’t been easy.
“We’ve gone to doing rice and beans and a few veggies out of cans and things,” Taylor said. “We don’t do meat anymore cause we can’t afford it.”
People were waiting for hours at the Regency Square Mall on Saturday morning to get their box of food. In fact, when I spoke with the President and CEO of Feeding Northeast Florida, Susan King, she told me the first person in line that she saw was there at 4:45 this morning.
“That’s just evidence of the level of insecurity that people feel at this time,” King said.
The food distribution comes as the U.S. Supreme Court just granted an emergency appeal by the Trump Administration to block a lower court ruling to fully fund SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.
Action News Jax told you how Jacksonville City Councilman Rahman Johnson (D-District 14) plans to file legislation to help tackle delays in snap benefits for local families.
I caught up with City Councilman Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) at the food distribution and asked him if he plans to support his legislation.
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