SNAP Interruption Threatens Local Businesses in with $1.5M Loss – Grocers Join the Fight Against Hunger

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2025

Contact: Rachael Lucille Jackson-Davis, rlucille@oregonfoodbank.org

SNAP Interruption Threatens Local Businesses in with $1.5M Loss – Grocers Join the Fight Against Hunger

ONTARIO, Ore. — The recent interruption in November’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which affected thousands of local individuals and families, highlighted the vulnerability that is present when policies can influence who gets their basic needs met. Hunger is a policy choice and food should never be used as a political tactic. When access to food is at risk, entire communities feel the impact.

One in four people in Malheur County and one in five people in Harney County are already facing food insecurity and H.R. 1 (also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”), signed into law in July, cuts SNAP by an unprecedented $186 billion over the next 9 years. This is the largest cut to food assistance in U.S. history. Cuts and disruptions to SNAP benefits deepen hunger and will have a resulting impact on local grocers and other retailers who rely on SNAP to sustain their businesses. In Malheur County alone, 1 in 4 individuals currently rely on SNAP.

“Our small, rural grocers rely on those SNAP dollars coming in and without SNAP, the stores lose those customers,” explains Lindsay Grosvenor, Oregon Food Bank Southeast Oregon Regional Manager. “SNAP helps families put food on the table and keeps rural grocery stores open. SNAP helps to strengthen our entire community and local economy.” SNAP benefits generate over $1.5 million per month of local revenue to rural grocery stores and other retailers in Malheur County alone.

As a response to November’s SNAP interruption, OFB - Southeast Oregon Services and the Western Treasure Valley Food Systems Partnership launched “Groceries for Good” — a pay-it-forward food drive to keep funds local and food accessible. When customers shop at Red Apple Marketplace and Ontario Grocery Outlet, at checkout shoppers can purchase a pre-filled “Groceries for Good” bag. Each $10 bag feeds local families struggling to make ends meet and supports local businesses that keep our community strong.

Local leaders in healthcare, business and community organizations gathered on November 13 for a Community Conversation to discuss the changes that H.R. 1 will bring and how the community can come together to respond.

Free food remains available to all who need it. OregonFoodFinder.org is a one-stop-shop to find free food markets, pantries, meal sites and delivery programs in Oregon.

For media inquiries, contact Rachael Jackson-Davis at rlucille@oregonfoodbank.org.

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SNAP recipients, stay informed. Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) will share updates through the ODHS website, official ODHS social media channels and partner organizations and local service providers.

About Oregon Food Bank

At Oregon Food Bank, we believe that food and health are basic human rights for all. We know that hunger is not just an individual experience; it is also a community-wide symptom of barriers to employment, education, housing, and healthcare. That’s why we work systemically in our mission to end hunger in Oregon: we build community connections to help people access nourishing, affordable food today, and we build community power to eliminate the root causes of hunger for good. Join us online at OregonFoodBank.org and @oregonfoodbank on social media.

About Western Treasure Valley Food System Partnership

The Western Treasure Valley Food System Partnership (WTVFSP) is a collaboration of social service and food systems partners across the Western Treasure Valley region, in rural eastern Oregon and western Idaho. The WTVFSP works to improve the coordination and sustainability of the regional food system by sharing nutrition support programs and education, and food-system-related economic development opportunities in the area.