>> The Evers administration overnight Thursday made
full November food share payments to 700,000 people
in Wisconsin who rely on the assistance that after a
federal judge late this week ordered the Trump
administration to fully fund Snap, saying people
have gone without for too long. Trump Friday appealed
that decision, but a stay was not granted. People's
accounts in Wisconsin have been restored, at least for
this month. Now the chaos in the Snap program and
overall higher costs have drawn more and more people
to seek help from food pantries, including many
first time visitors. Over four days this week at one
of Wisconsin's busiest, the River Food Pantry in Dane
County, they served nearly 5000 individuals. As its
executive director, Rhonda Adams told me, long lines
and empty pockets tell the story. What is it been like
here in terms of numbers and demand on on people's
part for help with food? >> I can't keep up with it,
to be honest. It's hard to keep up with them because
they're changing every day. But we just know that there
is an increase in what we've been seeing over the
last several months. We're on track to serve over
20,000 unique individuals this year, and that's up
from last year, about 18,700. So a lot of people
are coming to us. There's a lot of need.
>> We've been executive director for five years.
How does this period of time right now compare to
prior years? >> There's no comparison.
This is this is and I don't even want to say crazy, but
it is crazy how much need there is right now. So as I
was looking at numbers again just from last week,
serving close to 5000 people in a week. We never
thought we'd be able to do that and never thought we'd
need to do that. But we're here for the people that
need us through very dedicated volunteers and a
very devoted staff. >> Do you ever have
concerns that this amount of donations won't come in,
won't be able to serve the people that need it?
>> To be honest, yes, they did have that concern. But
I will tell you that our community has been amazing.
They have heard our pleas. They've heard other food
pantries pleas that please us money, please give food.
We need help. We need volunteers. And the
community has responded. >> Even if by court order.
The SNAP funding is reinstated. Do you expect
it to be immediate where people will have that on
their EBT cards? >> I don't I don't expect
that to be immediate. I expect that to be weeks.
And also, I think people are still going to be
apprehensive about is that is it really true? Plus, I
think people have found us and now have also found
that we're welcoming, that we're we're here for them.
And so we I believe we'll continue to see uptick in
numbers here. And plus we're coming into the
holidays, which is always a busy time for us.
>> How confusing and frightening is it for your
customers, your clients, the people you serve to
kind of be in the midst of what's happening in
>> It's very confusing. I was I was talking to some
of the clients last week and they said, like, we're
scrambling, but we don't we don't know which what to
listen to, which side to listen to. And like, we're
in the middle and and who is also who's also in the
middle are children. And that's, that's
heartbreaking that children are going hungry and maybe
going hungry because of the snap benefits being cut.
>> What kind of provisions do you have here to help
the community? >> Yep. So the river has
eight different programs and it's really a way to
give different access to to different people. And how
can they how can they get food. So we do have a
mobile meal program where we go out into 24 different
neighborhoods throughout delivering a meal. We also
have our most busiest and popular program, which is
curbside. And that's really what the volunteers here
are, are preparing to put together bags for our
clients that are coming curbside with a variety of
things. What we're seeing here is produce the most
requested item milk and eggs and dairy products and
shelf stable products, all those kind of things. Meat.
You mentioned also the meal. So this week we are serving
chicken noodle soup, which has been really popular.
But also we do have a meal here every week. So again
we're serving four days a week and people can come to
us for the meal. And it just takes a burden off of
people having to prepare one more meal. They can
have one already prepared for them and their families.
>> Do you see a lot of first time visitors?
>> Another heartbreaking thing. Yes, we do see a lot
of first time. Last week was 81. Households had
never been here before. Came for the very first
time and to see the looks on their face, they're
frightened. They don't know what to do or what to
expect. And, you know, for many of them, they're
feeling shame and they're making a telling us, you
know, sorry that I'm here and apologizing for being
here. We greet them with a smile. You saw Kevin here
as our registration, registering clients and
treating them with a smile and with telling them, it's
okay, we're here. We're going to help you.
>> What can people who want to help you, this pantry or
other pantries, food banks, what can they do?
>> Yeah. And it's really for all food pantries
across the country because we're we're all in this
work together and we're all wanting to to make a
difference in people's lives with, you know, just
a basic need of food. So money is, is, is needed.
And that's what I'm hearing from other food pantries,
too. Money is the number one request, right, that we
can again make that dollar stretch a little bit
farther. We're happy that we're here and that people
are finding us and they're trusting us, right, with a
basic need that they need. Right. It's food, but it is
it's sad. It's heartbreaking that people