Maryland Food Bank ramps up efforts as expanded SNAP terminate

MARYLAND-  SNAP Food assistance is set to run out for millions of Americans as a federal SNAP benefit expansion enacted in 2023 is set to expire in February of this year. 

The Maryland food bank says as the program winds down, the need for food assistance has only increased citing increased food costs due to inflation, and a drawback in other resources that has Americans that relied on them for help having to spend more money across their households.
The Maryland Food bank says they are purchasing more food, increasing hours and staffing across their locations to help service an anticipated spike of new, or more in-need families using their services.

“We expect we will have to continue to purchase food at record levels exceeding pre covid so we are prepared to do that our inventory is fairly high and we are still actively buying but this strains us over time because the cost of food goes up for us as well,” said Maryland Food Bank CEO Carmen Del Guercio.

He says the centers will also be helping people find out what other benefits they may qualify for, as well as pushing the Maryland General Assembly to increase their funding in response to the anticipated surge.