SNAP was restored, but many indigenous Americans still struggle with food insecurity

"Mary Lefthand pulls her truck up to a warehouse in the valley below. This story was produced in partnership with KFF Health News. She's driven over the town of St. Ignatius, to pick up free food from the commodity program run by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Tribal commodity food programs are federally funded, but weren't impacted by the federal government shutdown. Unlike SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which was very much under threat."

"Lefthand receives SNAP. She prefers it to the commodities program, because with SNAP she can go to the grocery store and pick out her own items. But during the shutdown, she became increasingly anxious amid the uncertainty over SNAP payments. She decided to switch to the tribal commodity program. "Because I have three growing grandkids that eat a lot," she explained."

"Lefthand relies on food aid for her entire grocery budget. But often it still isn't enough for her and her three grandchildren. "Toward the end of the month, I feed them plain rice and whatever I can find," Lefthand says. When the Trump administration said it wouldn't send SNAP payments for November, tribes scrambled to fill the gap. Any disruption to food aid can hit American Indian communities particularly hard."

The snowcapped mountains surround northwest Montana's Flathead Reservation where Mary Lefthand drives to a St. Ignatius warehouse to pick up free food from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' commodity program. Tribal commodity food programs are federally funded and were not affected by the federal government shutdown, unlike SNAP, whose 41 million recipients faced uncertainty about November benefits. Lefthand usually prefers SNAP for grocery choice but switched to the tribal program during the shutdown because of anxiety over benefits and to feed three growing grandchildren. More than 60% of Native people rely primarily on this food source; 46% of Indigenous Americans face food insecurity annually, compared with about 10% nationwide. SNAP payments have resumed, but financial strain may persist.

Read at www.npr.org