Millions of Americans suffer from food insecurity. While this is nothing new, throughout history, the government has provided families with assistance.
The Food Stamp Program, which originated during the food shortages and mass unemployment caused by World War II, has helped minimize the impact of food insecurity for nearly a century. In 1964, when the Kennedy administration signed the Food Stamp Act, the program saw success in its purpose to strengthen the agricultural economy and provide families with supplemental nutrition. The food stamp program saw extensive expansion over the next 80 years, including the rebranding from Food Stamps to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Following the election of President Donald Trump, the SNAP program was threatened by funding cuts and the inflation that was caused by the administration’s tariff and trade policy. In the final week of October 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that SNAP would no longer receive funding due to the government shutdown that began on Oct. 1.
The Senate has reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen funding for government workers and federal programs such as SNAP; however, the Trump administration has announced that the SNAP program will receive 50% of the funding it had prior to cuts.
While this allows the program to continue, SNAP has had to create more strict requirements for participation, leaving thousands of families without the assistance they need. In Pennsylvania, over 2 million people were qualified for SNAP benefits prior to the change, and nationally, over 12% of Americans received nutritional aid every month during 2024. These numbers will fall significantly over the coming months, although many still need the support.
In the wake of these changes, State College businesses have hosted programs and events to help those impacted by the SNAP cuts. Cozy Thai Bistro, located in downtown State College, held an event on Saturday, Nov. 8, in which free Pad Thai was given out to people in need.
The local Domino’s franchise gave a free one-topping large pizza to any SNAP recipients, and the community has been hard at work over the past week to help local food banks. The State College Area High School held a Thanksgiving food drive to grant extra support to local pantries. State High Student Council President, Grace Yang, helped organize the food drive. “Students reached out to us in November, and with the ongoing SNAP benefits complications with the government shutdown, we saw that this was a cause the community was concerned about and that families in the district could benefit from,” she explained. The food drive managed to raise plentiful amounts of food and money for local food banks to grant the extra support needed.
The SCASD Helping Hands Pantry, which directly grants nutritional assistance to students in the district, as well as the State College Food Bank, received the donations, which helped push their stock through the holiday season. While both of these resources are open all year, they need the extra help in the winter months.
“We had it (the food drive) in December because some of our food bank contacts mentioned there always being a need, but especially one then during the winter/holiday season for families,” Yang said.
Food drives and businesses can’t support everyone impacted by the recent changes. Restaurants can’t give up money on a daily basis, and most people can’t provide donations frequently enough to keep food banks from running out if so many people are now relying on them.
Funds or food can be donated to the State College community here.
