More than thirty seven thousand residents of Lorain County will lose SNAP food assistance benefits in November due to the ongoing government shutdown, according to open data published by the state of Ohio.
Since October 1, the federal government has largely ceased operations due to an ongoing partisan standoff over issues including federal spending, foreign aid, and healthcare. Without an appropriations bill to fund the government, and no path to passing one in sight, the Department of Agriculture announced Monday that it will cease all SNAP food benefits on November 1.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” reads a notice pinned at the top of the agency’s website. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”
The loss of benefits will affect thousands of Lorain County residents, more than 11 percent of whom rely on SNAP to some degree. In September 2025, more than 37 thousand county residents received a combined six million dollars in food assistance through the SNAP program.
Begun in 1939, the modern SNAP program provides low-income households with monthly funds that can be used at grocery stores or other food vendors. In 2024, 41 million people in the United States were enrolled in SNAP, receiving a cumulative 93 billion dollars in food assistance that year.
Residents packed the waiting room of Oberlin Community Services on Wednesday afternoon, as a line for the organization’s food pantry stretched out the door.
Kelly, a patron who asked to be identified by her first name only, said that she relies on the pantry as a caretaker of four disabled family members. Lines for food, she said, have visibly lengthened since the shutdown began in early October.
“People are running scared right now,” Kelly said, “especially those with children.”
Jason Hawk, Communications Director for Oberlin Community Services, said that the center has seen a marked rise in the number of families seeking food assistance since the shutdown began. “There are a lot of clients who are coming to the food pantry, and they’re voicing real concerns about being anxious and nervous about what the next couple of months are going to hold,” Hawk said.
Every year, the pantry sees a surge in demand in the early fall, Hawk said. Yet demand this year has outpaced that trend. Since September, roughly 400 families have received food assistance from the pantry each week, Hawk said, up from 300 to 350 in previous years.
The impacts of the shutdown may soon be felt by the pantry itself, which receives almost 90 percent of its food stock from Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio. Federal shipments to food banks across the country, including Second Harvest, have halted due to the shutdown.
Beginning this week, Oberlin College Facilities Operations will be collecting donations for the Oberlin Community Services food pantry. Donations can be delivered to the Facilities Operations office in the Service Building between 8am and 4:30pm.