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On Oct. 1, the U.S. federal government shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a funding bill. Since then, millions of federal workers have gone unpaid as politicians on both sides of the aisle blame each other for the lack of a resolution. Polls show that nearly half of Americans blame Trump and the GOP for the government shutdown.
Because of the shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has claimed that it cannot afford to continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal program that assists low-income families in purchasing groceries. The program is set to run out of money on Nov. 1, despite USDA having a $6 billion contingency fund.
But coffee shops across the country have stepped up, spurred by a viral story out of Portland, Ore. As Lizzy Acker reports for The Oregonian, Heretic Coffee announced on Oct. 26 that it would offer free breakfasts to SNAP recipients beginning in November. “No proof needed. No questions asked,” the shop wrote on Instagram.
People quickly started donating to the cause, and as of publication, Heretic says it has raised over $310,000. “I legitimately thought we would get a couple hundred dollars,” Heretic owner Josh White told The Oregonian. Heretic has teamed up with Portland-based nonprofit Equitable Giving Circle to help redistribute funds beyond what Heretic needs.
SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, helps nearly 42 million Americans afford groceries. Attorneys General from 25 states have sued the Trump administration over the funding freeze.
It’s not just Heretic. Fresh Cup’s Haley Greene has been tracking other coffee companies raising money and offering assistance, from Utah to Oklahoma. Daily Coffee News did the same, but, as Nick Brown notes, while these efforts are inspiring, they “remain short-term responses to the ongoing food-security crisis in the U.S., where approximately one in seven households are food-insecure.”
Read more on how the coffee industry is stepping up via The Oregonian here.
Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash
