Fwd: Re: SNAP and the Federal Shutdown: Information and How You Can Help!
Rebecca Landis
Market Director, Corvallis-Albany Farmers’ Markets
www.locallygrown.org
541-740-1542 (texting is better than calling)
ca...@locallygrown.org
P.O. Box 2602, Corvallis, OR 97339
From: Rachael Ward <rac...@farmersmarketfund.org>
Date: Oct 22, 2025 at 1:12 PM -0700
To: DUFB Oregon Group <double-u...@googlegroups.com>, double-up-...@farmersmarketfund.org
Cc: Ayana Lance <ay...@farmersmarketfund.org>
Subject: Re: SNAP and the Federal Shutdown: Information and How You Can Help!
Hi partners,I'm emailing with some updates on this situation. The group Save Oregon SNAP has put together a sign on letter for Oregon organizations to send to our delegation, urging USDA to use contingency funding it has available to still make SNAP benefits available in November, even if the federal government remains shutdown.👉 Please take a moment to sign on and share the letter by tomorrow, Thursday, October 23.
LINK TO SIGN ON LETTER
I'm also attaching an information sheet that Partners for Hunger Free Oregon put together about the impacts of the shutdown on nutrition programs.
In Community,Rachael Ward (she/her)Executive Director, Farmers Market Fund503-482-2081 - cellPO Box 13391Portland, OR, 97213
--On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 12:51 PM Rachael Ward <rac...@farmersmarketfund.org> wrote:Hello Double Up partners!
I’m reaching out in hopes of clarifying some news you all may have seen in this press release from the Governor’s office regarding November SNAP benefits being canceled due to the federal government shutdown.
I met with Oregon Dept of Human Services (ODHS) last Tuesday and they shared some more information that I think is helpful context for this topic. See below for my notes and also some action items that you can take as a market/farm/individual or share with your shoppers and vendors.
ODHS shared last Tuesday that if the government shutdown continues into November, their payment processor will be physically unable to draw down the federal funds needed to issue new SNAP benefits.
ODHS warned me that they really won't know if November benefits will be affected until the shut down ends or (at the latest) midnight on Oct 31st. So if the government reopens Oct 30th or 31st, benefits should still be issued in November, although there may be a slight delay for some folks.
If the shutdown continues into November, any remaining October benefits will roll over into November and be available for folks to use. That may help some households, but we also know that most people use the full amount of their benefits pretty quickly once they are disbursed.
ODHS is still processing new SNAP applications.
Summer EBT remains intact and shouldn't be affected. Families still have 4 months after the issue date to spend benefits. New enrollments ended 9/3/25 so we could see summer EBT being spent into December.
If the shutdown continues into November, ODHS will reissue benefits on a staggered basis (2-3 phases) as soon as the government reopens. That means folks will get their benefits a few days after the government reopens and some may get their benefits before others. ODHS shared that they will stagger the re-release of benefits like this in order to not overwhelm retailers with everyone getting their benefits on the same day.
ODHS didn't mention anything about retailers not being able to accept SNAP/EBT if the shutdown continues into November, although we know it will definitely have a big impact on retailers if there aren't SNAP dollars floating out there to be spent.
Please know this is an ever evolving topic so it is possible that these talking points will shift and change in the coming days and weeks. We know ODHS’ words aren’t gold and they have given us incorrect information before, so please take this all with a big grain of salt!
So, what can you do?
Reach out to your federal legislators and encourage them to end the shutdown. Not sure who your representative is? Look them up here. Once you know who your representative is you can find contact information here (Senate, House of Representatives). I’ve drafted a short template email/phone script for you. The most important thing to emphasize is the impact a month without SNAP benefits will have on your community, not just in terms of customers and food insecurity, but also in terms of lost revenue for your farm or your vendors.
Feel free to also share and adapt these templates and calls to action with your community. The more voices and stories our legislators hear, the larger the impact.
Reassure your customers and vendors that Double Up Food Bucks and Produce Match will continue to be available and able to be spent even if the shutdown continues.
We know that many organizations and individuals are carefully weighing the decision to reach out to ask legislators to end the shutdown, because they also do not want to see drastic cuts to Medicaid, health insurance premiums, etc. come as a compromise to reopening the government. We at FMF believe that we can do both: educate legislators about the impacts a continued shutdown will have on our communities due to the loss of SNAP, while also encouraging legislators not to make drastic cuts to healthcare and social services. Your advocacy is useful regardless of your political party affiliation or the political party of your federal representatives!
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or additional information and context that I may be missing. I will keep you all updated if we hear anything new from ODHS as the end of the month draws nearer.
In Community,Rachael Ward (she/her)Executive Director, Farmers Market Fund503-482-2081 - cellPO Box 13391Portland, OR, 97213
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