Free food runs out as SNAP delays send Indianapolis families to long lines

On Saturday morning, bundled in a coat, hat and gloves, Alicia Engel waited in a line outside Fountain Square Church of Christ for a cart of free groceries. An hour before the city-sponsored event was scheduled to end, volunteers ran out of food — and Engel left empty-handed.

Earlier in the week, she panicked when she checked her SNAP card and saw a message: “There will be no November benefits due to the government shutdown.”

For days, she watched headlines shift with the political fight — first no benefits, then half, then the full amount sometime. But nothing arrived, so she planned to get free groceries at the church.

Engel, who has scoliosis and bone spurs that leave her unable to work, has been deemed medically frail while she waits for disability approval. Food purchased with SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, usually stretches her family through most of the month. But with her daughter’s birthday in October, school lunches to pack and the holidays approaching, that help has never felt more fragile.

“I can’t bank on what’s not here,” Engel said. “I depend on that for my daughters to eat.”

Across Indianapolis, parents like Engel are navigating a maze of shifting information about when — or whether — their food benefits will arrive, while leaning on community groups stepping in to fill the gap.

This comes as olunteers, faith leaders and city staff are racing to distribute food to families who often don’t know where their next meal will come from as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history drags on and uncertainty over SNAP continues.

City and corporations are donating at least $200,000 in emergency funding to Gleaners Food Bank to increase distribution to local food pantries. Even before SNAP delays, roughly half of Central Indiana residents experienced food insecurity in the past year, according to a new survey from Indy Hunger Network.

The distribution event at Fountain Square Church of Christ was part of the city's effort to offer a short-term stopgap. But food items ran out before Engel and others made it to the front of the line. Now, Engel says she’ll have to look for another food pantry or wait until the city’s next distribution event — a week away.

While some states had already begun issuing benefits, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily granted the Trump administration’s request to block full SNAP payments during the government shutdown. The ruling requires states, for now, to revert to the partial payments the administration had directed them to distribute.

MORE Here's where to get free food in Indianapolis

Funding for SNAP — the nation’s largest anti-hunger program — ran out last week. In Indiana, more than 571,000 people received SNAP benefits in September, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. Nearly 150,000 of them live in Central Indiana.

‘Maybe this will help’ 

On the west side of the city, volunteers at Masjid Al Fajr — home to the Indiana Muslim Community Association — are seeing the same surge in need. The pantry, which typically opens once a month, has expanded to weekly distributions in November as people face delayed or reduced benefits.

Rubina Dalal, who runs the food pantry at Masjid Al Fajr, said she’s seen a large influx of local families needing assistance. While food pantries can’t provide everything, she said, every bit helps as benefits remain in limbo.

“Maybe this will help them to be able to stretch their dollars a little more and get the other things that they can get,” she said. “We are present as a part of the fabric of Indianapolis and we are willing and helping.” 

Reef Abdelhafez, a high school student who volunteered to distribute food at the Masjid Al Fajr, said her faith inspires her to help out those in need. 

“Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, tells us in one of his narrations that the believers are like one body — when one part gets hurt, the other parts feel it too,” she said. “We want to feel with them, so we just came to help out.” 

Brian Heinemann with the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety said food distribution events will continue across Indianapolis, regardless of what happens with SNAP benefits. The office has at least eight more distribution events scheduled this month.

“We’re feeding as many people as we can,” Heinemann said. “We’re going to keep doing it, no matter what happens. SNAP could be fully funded today, and people could get their checks — we’re still going to be here until the food runs out.”

Farrah Anderson is an investigative health reporter with WFYI and Side Effects Public Media. You can follow her on X at @farrahsoa or by email at fanderson@wfyi.org.