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As SNAP benefits are poised to cut off Saturday, Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown, some local businesses in the Portland area have already stepped up to help people who will temporarily lose their food assistance.
Miranda Luis-Silva is the owner of Nan’s Taqueria in Happy Valley, a taco shop inside of the Sunnyside food hall. She has offered to feed people who are losing their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps) benefits Nov. 1, no questions asked.
People have already donated produce, money and their time to help organize all the supplies and orders. “The response has been overwhelming,” Luis-Silva says. A family of 12 had just picked up four boxes of fresh produce, meals and toilet paper.
Nan’s Taqueria has only been open since September, but Luis-Silva feels she’s in a good position to help people with her commercial kitchen.
“I have been a single mother,” Luis-Silva says. “I’m not in any better position myself; I just struggled to pay rent in October also. But I have a restaurant so I have the ability to cook en masse so, what the heck, I’m going to do it.”
A little closer to the city center, Heretic Coffee on Southeast 28th Avenue had a line to the door on the afternoon of Oct. 28 and a news camera pointed at the baristas as they prepared drinks. It’s a result of Heretic’s viral post on social media that offers customers a free SNAP breakfast starting Nov. 1—no questions asked.
More than 2,000 people have donated to Heretic’s effort, resulting in $75,000 that has come in from places as far as Ireland, Australia and West Africa, White says. White tripled his breakfast burrito order and an industrial oven is about to be delivered to get ready for demand.
Heretic has donated coffee to places before and cranked up the air conditioning during heat waves to operate as a de facto cooling center for people, but this is its first time offering free meals.
“Listen, what we’re doing is not revolutionary or brand new or innovative,” Heretic owner Josh White says. “Ours was just the one that got picked up…It absolutely exploded in the most beautiful way.”
Oregon’s Department of Human Services has information online about how the federal government shutdown is affecting SNAP benefits and how people can continue to use their remaining benefits. The department has estimated that nearly 757,000 Oregon residents will lose their SNAP benefits in November, including 143,000 in Multnomah County. On Tuesday, Oregon joined about two dozen states in suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the halting of food assistance.
