PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Work requirements for the SNAP Program have now been in effect for a week and some food pantries said they are seeing an uptick in demand.
Watch full report from Casey Albritton
"They will have a really hard time. They will have to come get food from pantries that don't require an income," said Patricia Butts, who volunteers at Love Thy Neighbor and also benefits from the SNAP program.
For people like Butts, things are getting a little bit more difficult.
"The requirements are almost too strict for us…it's hard. I'm a single person. It's very hard to have requirements. I don't work and I'm on disability," said Butts.
SNAP, a federal program that helps people afford groceries, has new requirements.
New rules went into effect on September 1 and adults up to 64 years old must work or volunteer 20 hours a week to qualify for SNAP benefits.
Michael Cromwell delivers food to people who rely on SNAP. He said older people are being impacted.
"I know a few people that that's going to be very concerning. One in particular, he is on dialysis three days a week, which wears him out, and the other days, he's got too many medical issues that he's not going to be able to do the 20 hours," said Cromwell.
The program also states that parents are now exempt from the 20-hour rules only if their children are under seven years old, instead of 18 years old.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, these SNAP changes could save nearly $187 billion over the next decade.
But it's also causing more demand at food pantries.
"Saturday, I got a call that we had so many people lined up outside that it was bothering the restaurant next door," said Joanne Braccio, who owns the food pantry called Love Thy Neighbor.
Joanne Braccio said last weekend was the first time she's seen so many people in need.
"Just seeing the amount of people and the volume we had, was like I've never seen it before and I've been here for three years. It's going to get worse," said Braccio.
It's something Heather Brooke with Good Neighbors is also seeing.
"We're getting a lot more calls, a lot more emails through our website asking when our next giveaway is," said Brooke.
Her organization has a community box that allows people to drive up and pick up food for free.
"So we fill it and it goes away, within a few hours it's empty again," said Brooke.
With so much demand, organization leaders said they hope more people will donate.
"It takes a village, it takes a village to keep this place going," said Braccio.
To keep up with the need, nonprofit leaders say they are accepting both monetary and food donations.
Florida family claims nursing home kept billing for empty room after mom died
Renee Schultz said her mom, Jackie, lived at Sun Towers’ memory care unit for about two years.
