SNAP funding lapse leaves Silicon Valley families scrambling for food assistance

BY NOON ON NOV. 1, the line at St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room spilled out the door as patrons waited for a hot meal from the church’s food distribution center in Menlo Park. The Dining Room is one of hundreds of organizations in the Bay Area bracing for increased need as funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) expires.

“People are preparing themselves for what is coming,” said Max Torres, the operations manager at St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room. For the month of October, Torres notes that the Dining Room served upwards of 9,000 meals, an over 10% increase in patrons.