Organizations devoted to helping financially strapped Hawaii families were scrambling Monday after the federal Food and Nutrition Service told states that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — will be suspended beginning Saturday because of the federal government shutdown.
The suspension affects over 160,000 SNAP recipients across the islands, or more than 80,000 households, according to the state Department of Human Services.
As long as the shutdown continues, no additional SNAP funding will be added to Electronic Benefit Transfer cards needed to make SNAP purchases — although participants can still spend any remaining October funds in November.
“All November 2025 SNAP benefit allotments are suspended effective Nov. 1, 2025, and will remain suspended until sufficient federal funding is appropriated or the agency issues updated direction,” DHS said Monday.
Non-profit organizations are already struggling after severe cuts to federal non-profit funding since January.
Aloha United Way’s 211 phone lines normally receive about 130 calls a day from people seeking help, but had already hit that threshold before noon on Monday.
Jennifer Pecher, vice president of AUW’s 211 community response programs, expects 211 call volume to jump even higher as October ends and November begins, when rent and mortgages come due at the same time that an unknown number of Hawaii-based federal employees continue to work without pay.
Also this week, the estimated 23,000 Hawaii residents who receive their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace should receive notices of how much their premiums will rise, according to the state Department of Health.
They are scheduled to face an average 12% increase in 2026, according to the Health Department.
But if enhanced federal premium tax credits are not renewed, many residents could see their net monthly costs roughly double, depending on income and plan type, the Health Department said.
The shutdown continues to drag out as Democrats and Republicans in Congress argue over the future of healthcare for millions of Americans, who also face Republican proposals to change Medicare and Medicaid eligibility requirements.
Locally, at AUW, Pecher said, “We are bracing for impact.”
“We’re closely monitoring when all these federal impacts are hitting the community,” she said. “We all know non-profits are bearing the brunt. So people need help, but there are fewer resources. It’s going to all converge. And we anticipate a huge surge” in calls for assistance.
In a statement Monday, Gov. Josh Green said, “We stand with the thousands of Hawai‘i residents who rely on these benefits.”
On Wednesday, Green said that DHS will provide information about “the Hawai‘i Relief Program” designed to “provide eligible families with dependent children the opportunity to receive payment support for housing and utilities.”
The Pantry, a Kalihi-based food bank, held its second food giveaway Monday specifically for families directly affected by the shutdown.
The number of participants doubled from Oct. 20 to 300 in just three-and-a-half hours Monday, said Robin Bremer-Sherley, The Pantry’s programs manager.
“We did have some moving client stories,” she said. “A new emotion we felt today was anger. They’re supposed to be working for this awesome federal government and instead they’re being told, ‘You have to go to work and not get paid.’ It’s just a really, really rough situation.”
The new demand on The Pantry means some food shelves are empty.
“We’re not seeing any extra anything,” Bremer-Sherley said. “I can tell we definitely have less leftover at the end of the day. So we are being really scrappy to stretch what we have.”
Now, with Monday’s announcement that SNAP funding will be suspended beginning Saturday, Bremer-Sherley said, “that’s on the minds of everybody right now. The Pantry, and all island-wide food banks, are just Band-Aids on a systemic problem.”
Also on Monday, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda joined 214 House Democrats in a letter calling on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to use $5 billion in SNAP contingency funds created by Congress to ensure food for millions of American families.
“Thousands of Hawai‘i households will soon face an impossible question — how to put food on the table with no certainty that their federal SNAP benefits will come through next month,” Tokuda said in a statement. “SNAP contingency funds exist for emergencies like this, yet 42 million Americans, from keiki to kupuna, risk going hungry. That is unconscionable.
“USDA already confirmed SNAP has multi-year contingency funds to keep operating through a shutdown,” Tokuda said. “Now the Trump administration claims their hands are tied, and that guidance has vanished. As this Republican shutdown approaches its second month, the administration has a choice: either continue to use food as a political weapon or use the legal authority given to them by Congress to stop this crisis and keep families fed. I urge Secretary Rollins and the administration to do the right thing and fulfill their responsibility to the American people.”
Source: The Garden Island
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