How SNAP cuts deepen food insecurity for ACD clients and Missouri families
By Ymani Wince, with editorial support from Johnny Gabbert and Z Gorley
October 7, 2026
Our clients’ day-to-day stability is often threatened by the reach of systems like policing and municipal courts. At the same time, governments continue to make it harder for people to access the resources they need to survive. As wages stagnate, costs rise, and federal and state governments restrict access to food assistance, our Social Services team continues to prioritize our clients’ wellbeing through these heightened challenges.
Food is a basic human need. But states like Missouri are increasingly forcing people to navigate a maze of eligibility and work requirements, documentation, and bureaucratic hurdles. It withdraws assistance and leaves communities and individuals to absorb the consequences.
Over the last year, federal and state governments have slashed access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), affecting millions of Americans’ ability to keep groceries in their homes. At a time of climbing food prices and widespread food insecurity, the government has made a program intended to assist individuals and families with limited incomes more difficult to get approved for. We see consequences in our clients’ lives every day.
Client Experience
Earlier this summer, Sophie, a grandmother in her 60s, living with a disability, received notification that she’d lose her benefits on July 1 unless she could prove 80 hours of work or 20 hours of volunteering each month.
Before receiving notification of her benefits ending, Sophie relied on food stamps, food pantries, and family support to secure groceries and meals each month. Even then, it was not enough.
Since July, Sophie has relied on more help from friends and family, meal sharing, food pantry items, and ArchCity Defenders’ staff and volunteer-run grocery delivery to help cover the gap this loss has created. Only recently has Sophie been able to secure employment that will help provide the documentation now required to be eligible to apply for and receive SNAP again.
issue before changes
Even before Missouri revoked Sophie’s monthly assistance and added challenging pre-requisites to re-enroll, food was scarce. In talking with our Social Services team, we learned that Sophie is not the only one who is struggling. Over 75% of our clients receive monthly food stamps; and while insufficient, families relied on this resource and others to survive.
ACD case manager Tiara Gore says that relying on food pantries has become increasingly difficult, as those services are also stretched thin from widespread food insecurity. She says pantries have become more restrictive on residential requirements, along with fluctuating hours and less food. Pantries that have supplied fresh produce in the past are far and few between.
“People cannot survive on food pantries alone,” Tiara says. “It’s just not possible.”
Tiara adds that her unhoused clients feel the SNAP changes just as hard. The need for quick, accessible foods that can be microwaved or readily eaten is a necessity. Inaccessibility to food, even items like chips and crackers, have a direct impact on the state’s most vulnerable.
Tiara says the increased changes to eligibility for SNAP affects her clients who are either disabled, unhoused, or under the age of 65 the most. She says she is concerned about the ways people across the state and country are struggling to survive, and how the state is quick to criminalize acts of survival.
Missouri alone has cut benefits to more than 45,000 Missourians since July 2025. ACD clients have felt these cuts directly, turning to our Social Services team to meet basic food needs.
filling the gap
Our Social Services team works alongside clients to meet urgent daily needs, even as the resources continue to shrink. Last year, ACD made bi-weekly grocery delivery to 30 households and provided emergency grocery gift cards when SNAP was disrupted.
For clients with limited internet and phone access, our team helps navigate the administrative systems standing between them and essential benefits. Before the SNAP changes went into effect, our case managers could spend up to four hours on the phone with a client being interviewed by the Missouri Department of Social Services.
Morgan Martin, a case manager at ArchCity Defenders, has been a consistent source of support for Sophie. Morgan spends time each week picking up groceries for Sophie, along with assisting in applying for Missouri benefits.
“Most of our clients have not had a consistent support system in their lives,” Morgan said. “Just having someone there is important to them.”
Morgan says building such relationships is central to ACD’s approach. Morgan and Tiara work alongside clients, allowing them to lead their own experiences and advocate for themselves. The main goal of our case managers is to be available to the client and help identify and access resources that help improve their overall quality of life.
People should not have to prove their worthiness to eat. At a time when we’re seeing governments make deeper investments into the criminalization of poor people and people of color, the erosion of social services, and corporate resource hoarding puts an immense strain on those with less resources to survive.
As SNAP restrictions continue to push people toward hunger and instability, we invite our community to stand with those most affected: share resources, support mutual aid and organizations providing direct assistance, speak out against policies that make survival harder, and challenge the systems that criminalize people for the conditions those policies create.
At ArchCity Defenders, we will continue to support our clients and their families, expose forms of state violence, and invite you to get engaged locally.
Below is a list of local food resources. We recommend calling or checking their online channels to verify distribution and schedules before visiting, as hours and capacity may vary:
- St. Anthony’s Food Pantry | 3140 Meramec St, St. Louis, MO 63118 | 314-352-1460
- St. Louis Area Foodbank
- Westside Missionary Baptist Church | 4675 Page Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63113 | 314-535-9002
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help Food Pantry | 4335 Warne Ave, St. Louis, MO 63107 | 314-535-9794
- Annie Malone Children and Family Services | 5355 Page Blvd. | 314-531-0120
- Third Baptist Church | 620 North Grand Blvd | 314-533-7340
- Urban League St. Louis
- City Residents: 1408 N. Kingshighway Blvd | 314-615-3642
- County Residents: 8960 Jennings Station Rd | 314-388-9840
- St. Pius V | 3310 South Grand Blvd. | 314-772-1525