Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin stood with local elected, faith and social service leaders Thursday and said they will not stand by while people suffer from the suspension of SNAP benefits.

The mayor said he will ask the Birmingham City Council to commit $1 million in city funds to make sure no family in the city goes hungry while the federal government is shut down.

“Approximately 23,000 SNAP recipients, households may not receive benefits,” Woodfin said. “That’s 23,000 seniors, elders, families combined in our city limits for the month of November due to the current shutdown. While this situation can be resolved in Washington in the coming days, the leaders you see flanked by me don’t feel we have the luxury to wait because our residents, our families, our children, our elders can’t wait.

“The health and well-being of these households relying on SNAP benefits is our top priority,” the mayor continued. “We have a moral obligation to take care of the residents within our city. Food and nutrition is a necessity; it is not a choice. There are many things that you can make about politics and power. Food and nutrition as it relates to feeding a family and children should not be one of them.”

Woodfin laid out a three-pronged response to the suspension of SNAP benefits.

• The city is looking to secure funding to replace at least a portion of the lost benefits for affected Birmingham households. The United Way of Central Alabama will manage funds received for this initiative.
• The city will be a clearinghouse to provide information about additional wraparound services to assist households in the city.
• In partnership with local organizations, the city will launch a community food drive Monday to continue through Thursday. The city invites food providers and civic organizations to participate. Donations of nonperishable food and paper items may be made at Christian Service Mission, at 3600 Third Ave. S., between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. those days.

“The greatest command that we can live out is to love our neighbor,” said CSM’s Tracy Hipps. “If you have a neighbor in need, help them. Don’t wait on the city. Don’t wait on anybody else. You help them. That’s our responsibility to do that, to live out the Gospel every day.”

Representatives with local food banks and other social service nonprofits also are preparing to help keep people fed after benefits are suspended starting Saturday.

Birmingham City Council President Wardine Alexander said that when federal leadership cannot ensure food programs are fully funded, it falls on local leaders to take up that responsibility.

Alexander also cited the local economic impact of the SNAP suspension.

“For every $1 in SNAP benefits, about $1.50 is generated in economic activity,” she said. “This directly impacts our local businesses, especially small and independent stores in neighborhoods with limited grocery access. People buy less and small businesses, many of them which already struggle to stay afloat, will face even more hardship if this funding is stopped.”

Woodfin pointed out that local grocers, in particular, will feel the SNAP cuts.

“This has a negative impact on that small business because a significant amount of their business is depending on residents being able to come in and use those SNAP benefits.

“This is not a small business issue in isolation,” Woodfin said. “This is definitely not an urban versus rural issue. This affects a significant amount of Americans all over within our own state.”

Alexander, refuting the notion SNAP cuts are a political issue, said: “It’s a human issue. People are scared and they’re unsure about what comes next. For SNAP households with children, 55% had earned income. These are not people who are gunning and gaming the system. We’re talking about hard-working families.”

The Rev. Thomas Beavers is pastor of New Rising Star Church, affectionately known as “The Star.” He equated the current crisis as playing a card game with a partner.

“Whenever you have a partner, even if you have a bad hand, if you have the right partner, you can still win,” he said. “I’m grateful to Mayor Randall Woodfin and the city of Birmingham for assembling together all of these partners. I really believe that we have the right partners at the table to help the people who need it most win, even though life has dealt them a bad hand.”

Woodfin’s chief of staff, Cedric Sparks, said the city has received a listing of Birmingham residents who are SNAP recipients.

“When we do the disbursement process, they will be required to provide proof that, one, they are who they say that they are and that they’re residents of the city,” Sparks said.

Drew Langloh is president and CEO of the United Way of Central Alabama. He invited feeding organizations to apply to United Way via its website for additional funds to restock their pantry shelves and get more food supplies.

Langloh said it’s up to local feeding partners to determine who receives benefits.

“Most of those partners will not require you to prove you’re a SNAP beneficiary,” he said. “Hungry people are hungry people. We expect we’re already seeing a run on food pantries. We’re getting calls for folks already panicking. You’re seeing that already happening.

“We’re getting a lot of calls to our 211 call center saying, Where can I go?” the United Way leader said. “From those operations, very few of them, I think, will require any proof other than that you’re hungry.”

Langloh acknowledged the enormity of the task the city and its partners are accepting.

“Obviously, the scale of the problem is way beyond the private sector’s ability to replace it,” Langloh said. “But it is within our power to be compassionate and to help those people who are hungry and that is what today is about.

“That’s what this whole coalition of partners is about,” he continued, “doing whatever we can as a community, as individuals, as organizations to lean in and at least help those who (we) need to help the most until this program gets back online.”

For information about donating food or money to the city’s effort, go to www.birminghamal.gov/bhamready.  If you are in need of food assistance, you can dial 211 on your phone or go to the  211 call center, or search an online database to find nearby resources.