At the Pierrepont Neighborhood Center, a food pantry just outside Canton in St. Lawrence County, Florence Wright of Colton is stocking up on essentials: pasta, canned fruit and vegetables, and dried beans, trying to stretch her groceries through the month.
Wright and her husband are both retired and on a fixed income. They get a $23 a month check from SNAP, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It’s not a lot, she says, but if the government doesn’t send that check due to the shutdown, it’ll pinch their budget. "I am very concerned about it, yes," she says.
Donna Gilbert, a volunteer here, helps carry Wright’s groceries out to the car. She says her daughter relies on SNAP, too. "She’s got the baby and a three-year-old. It would take away a lot from them," Gilbert says.
The US Department of Agriculture says “the well has run dry” on SNAP funding due to the shutdown and blames Democrats. Democratic states are suing the USDA, saying it’s withholding $6 billion in contingency funds that should be used in just this situation.
Ahead of Saturday’s deadline, Governor Kathy Hochul released $106 million to send emergency assistance to New York’s food banks, including an additional $65 million by declaring a state of emergency Thursday.
While that all plays out far from Pierrepont, low-income families aren’t sure if they’ll get money for food next week.
"They’re working families or they’re retired families," says Kayla Jenkinson, who directs this neighborhood center and two others in Colton and Parishville. "That bit of SNAP is that bit of help to get them food that gets them by."
The average SNAP check is $187 per month. That doesn’t go far with higher prices at the grocery store, Jenkinson says, but losing it will force families to decide between making a car payment, paying the electric bill, or putting food on the table.
"I know a lot of people are like, well, my kids will get to eat, but I’ll have to have water tonight," Jenkinson says. "It’s rough to hear. They’re choosing what they have to pay for right now."
This is just the beginning of ominous news for low-income North Country residents. Work requirements in President Donald Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill are estimated to kick thousands of people off SNAP. And Trump has threatened to cut the LIHEAP program that helps people pay for heat in the winter.
Jenkinson says she’s been told to stock up her food pantry for an expected influx of need. "Honestly, what I’m doing is trying to prepare for that surge of numbers because no one knows what the future holds right now," she says.
So Jenkinson is trying to make things the best she can. On the day I visit, there are fresh apples from a local orchard, pump top bottles of hand and body cream for self-care, and a rack of jackets for the coming cold.