As some of the 300 families who visit the May Dugan Center pantry filed into the building Friday to collect their produce, meat and canned goods, dozens of leaders from the city, county, local foundations and sports teams gathered to announce a $600,000 emergency fund to keep that food flowing from sites across Cuyahoga County. 

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said leaders are bracing for the federal government shutdown to go past Thanksgiving and potentially into next year, so the money is just an initial investment in fighting hunger. It cannot replace the hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits that help feed more than 190,000 people in Cuyahoga County, he said, and 170,000 in Cleveland alone.

Emergency fund will keep food flowing short term

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne acknowledged that the money pledged Friday was not enough but that, across the county, groups were revving up collaborations to get food to people for as long as needed and to lessen the domino effect of families having to choose between buying food, buying medicine or paying energy bills. He said long-term help is also needed for residents, including immigrants and refugees, who are losing federal food benefits, known as SNAP, for good because of federal changes to the program. 

“This isn’t just today, this isn’t just this week, this isn’t just this month. This is looking out and looking out for our families,” he said to a bank of news cameras in a room chock full of elected and civic leaders. He also thanked state leaders who announced $25 million in emergency aid for food banks and some SNAP recipients.

The $600,000 raised so far comes from the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland Foundation, the Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cleveland Guardians and The Word Church. Officials didn’t give a breakdown of the contributions or say how long they expected that the money, which would go to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, would last. 

‘Food is a fundamental’

U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown told the group that leaders shouldn’t have had to call the press conference at all. 

“Food is fundamental. It should never be a partisan issue,” Brown said. “It is a people issue.” 

Brown said that President Donald Trump’s administration is finding money for other things it deems essential – such as military troop pay and billions to prop up the economy of Argentina. She noted that SNAP is as essential as Social Security checks and other benefits that continue during a federal shutdown. In the 11th Congressional District, which Brown represents, 1 in 5 people rely on SNAP benefits.

Brown said she hoped a judge would rule in favor of dozens of states that have sued in order to force the administration to tap a $6 billion contingency fund that could, at least partially, keep food benefits stable for recipients across the country through November. [Update: Two federal judges ruled Friday afternoon that the Trump administration must continue to pay for SNAP using the contingency fund during the government shutdown, according to the Associated Press.]

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown.

The Cleveland Foundation’s president and CEO, Lillian Kuri, said the Greater Cleveland Food Bank will use the money to meet surging needs and provide 1.1 million more pounds of food to the pantries and distribution and meal sites it supports at churches and community spaces throughout the county. That’s 22% more than it distributed last November, she said, for a total of 6 million pounds. 

The fallout of hunger in Cleveland neighborhoods

Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin said he and the many council members in the room recognize that the looming loss of benefits amounts to a humanitarian crisis hitting  neighborhoods block- by-block. 

“It isn’t just hunger,” he said. “It’s community destabilization.” He said hunger can lead to poorer health outcomes and kids unable to focus in school – and it forces people to make truly impossible choices.

Council members who cited frustrations earlier this week at not being able to spend their ward discretionary funds quickly found a workaround. They’ll transfer a combined $25,000 to the city’s general fund and the city will match that, adding $50,000 to the emergency fund. Griffin likened the rapid response to how partners came together during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet community needs.

“We’re going to support our neighbors and feed our families no matter what,” he said.

Watch the press conference here.