IRVING PARK — Sporting a Chicago Bears jersey and hat, Cody Martin waited in line for his turn to receive food at the Irving Park Community Food Pantry. As he picked up fresh produce, bread and other groceries, he greeted volunteers with a warm and easy smile that belied his recent struggles.
“I pray to my almighty God, who said in this life there will be trials and tribulations,” said Martin, 54, when asked what keeps him positive. “And this is it, and I have to go through it.”
In January, Martin was laid off from his job as a nonprofit case manager. He’s actively looking for work, but for now, he relies on the food pantry at 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave. and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for food.
He could soon face additional hardship. Under significant cuts to SNAP being considered in Congress, as part of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” people ages 55-64 would be subject to a work requirement to receive SNAP benefits — an expansion of existing work requirements that could affect more than 200,000 people living in Illinois.
Cody Martin sits for a portrait outside of the Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., on June 25, 2025. Martin is one of more than 200,000 Illinois residents who could be affected by expanding work requirements for SNAP benefits. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago
That’s just one component of $287 billion in proposed cuts over a 10-year period to SNAP, the largest anti-hunger program in the U.S., in the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House earlier this month.
Senators are expected to vote any day now on amendments to the massive legislation, which also includes deep cuts to Medicaid, before it heads back to the House for approval. Republicans hope to deliver the bill to Trump for his signature before Independence Day.
In Chicago, and throughout the country, hunger relief organizations are sounding the alarm over the proposed cuts to federal food assistance, which they say would dramatically increase food insecurity among lower-income Americans and further strain the emergency food system.
“I have been in this work for a long time and I have never been in a moment like this,” said Kate Maehr, who has served as the executive director and CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository since 2006. “We are heading into what is likely to be a crisis of unimaginable proportion and we are heading into that from a place of great vulnerability.”
Beyond the work requirement expansion, the proposed cuts would shift some of the cost burden of the federal program to states — to the tune of $1.2 billion annually in Illinois, according to an estimate from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office. Last week, Pritzker joined other Democratic governors by signing on to a letter to Congress opposing the plan to shift SNAP costs to states.
The cost shifting would force states to “either come up with new funding to backfill federal cuts or cut off families from essential food assistance,” Pritzker and the other governors argued in the letter.
Opponents of the legislation say the SNAP cuts would shift more burden to the charitable food sector, which includes food banks like the Food Depository and its network of hundreds of partner food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in Chicago, which are already stretched thin following years of increased demand stemming from a global pandemic and rising food prices.
“There is a supposition that the emergency food system can step in,” Maehr said. “That is incorrect. These cuts mean that people will not have food.”
In addition to food, the Irving Park Food Pantry provides diapers, infant formula, toiletries and other household necessities at the Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., on June 25, 2025. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago
‘It’s For Survival’
Twenty three dollars.
That’s how much Martin receives in monthly SNAP benefits. While that may not sound like much to people who haven’t experienced food insecurity, he’s able to use his benefits to buy items on sale to stretch the dollars, he said, like the 2-for-1 meat deals that can often be found at Jewel-Osco.
Behind him in line at the Irving Park food pantry, Sharron Diaz, a 47-year-old single mother on disability, said she received $234 a month in SNAP benefits for her 15-year-old son. Like millions of other Americans, she’s struggled to make ends meet with rising costs.
“We don’t want to receive SNAP,” she said, “but it’s for survival.”.
In Illinois, there are about 1.9 million people who receive SNAP benefits, including more than 891,000 Cook County residents, according to state data for May 2025. The average monthly benefit per person is $191; factors such as income and household size are calculated in the determination.
Lisa Hendricks, of the Albany Park neighborhood, volunteers at the Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., on June 25, 2025. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago
A federal entitlement program, SNAP is designed to expand and contract in times of economic need. Food banks and food pantries often directly feel those convulsions. For example, when the federal government expanded federal assistance for low-income people at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, that alleviated pressure at food pantries. When those programs expired, food pantries saw increased demand.
Under current SNAP rules, able-bodied adults without dependents are subject to work requirements that stipulate they must work 20 hours a week, or only receive three months of benefits within a three-year period. The proposed cuts would expand the age to include older adults ages 55 to 64 years old. Parents of children aged 14 and older would also be subject to the rule, per the latest Senate amendments to the bill.
In Illinois, 205,000 people would be at risk of losing some amount of SNAP benefits, according to estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the latest Senate amendments.
For years, Illinois has received a waiver tied to high unemployment rates in the state from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, exempting most of the state from the additional work requirement. Under the proposed cuts to SNAP, the legislation would “void that waiver and tighten future waivers,” said Jim Conwell, spokesman for the Food Depository.
SNAP work requirements have long been the source of debate. Proponents argue that they help ensure the program only serves people who truly need the assistance, whereas those against the rules say the requirements only make it harder for vulnerable populations, such as older adults and families with children, to receive needed food benefits.
“Work requirements are dumb,” said Craig Gundersen, an economist at Baylor University who has spent decades of his career researching food insecurity and food assistance programs. “SNAP is an anti-hunger program. It doesn’t discourage work.”
Still, Gundersen is more concerned by other parallel threats to the program, such as legislation being considered in some states that restrict what foods people can buy with their benefits, including meat and processed foods. Such limitations are “insulting and demeaning,” he said, and could lead to reduced SNAP participation.
As for the proposed cuts that could soon become law, Gundersen said: “I love SNAP. I just don’t think this is a sky-is-falling case, I really don’t.”
Volunteer Joyce Patch helps a family select bakery goods at the Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., on June 25, 2025. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago
An uncertain future
The view can look different from the ground, though, with SNAP cuts looming.
“Just about every person who comes in here is scared,” said the Rev. Sandra Gillespie, known as Pastor Sandy, a longtime food pantry leader who oversees the Chosen Bethel Bread of Life food pantry in Englewood.
More than half of the people who visit her pantry are over 55 and most receive SNAP benefits, Gillespie said. But few of them would be able to work if required because they lack the skills for the jobs available, she said. Gillespie is worried about the shifting of the burden to states and food banks.
“There’s no way that [the Food Depository] and Pritzker can sustain all these cuts that are going to happen,” she said. “So we’re praying, watching and listening.”
That’s another pain point. The nonprofits tasked with feeding people who are food-insecure are facing their own funding pressures. Any spike in demand will be hard to meet with flat or declining resources at their disposal.
Take, for example, Meals on Wheels Chicago, which relies heavily on federal funding and is watching the passage of the “big beautiful bill” closely. This year’s federal funding is flat and doesn’t “keep pace with rising costs or the rapid growth of the older adult population,” said Cory Morris, director of community impact for Meals on Wheels Chicago, which serves more than 17,500 seniors and people with disabilities in the city. SNAP cuts likely would mean more demand for their services.
Volunteers Amy Grabowski, center, and Debbie Christensen help a guest select produce at the Irving Park Food Pantry, 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave., on June 25, 2025. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago
“We’re hearing from new clients every day, and without increased support, we may not be able to meet the growing need,” Morris said in an email.
There’s similar uncertainty over federal support at the Food Depository, which receives and distributes millions of pounds of food each year from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, a federal program that routes surplus foods from farmers to food banks. In its current fiscal year, the Food Depository received 11.6 percent less food from the program than the prior year. And the food bank expects to receive even less in the year ahead.
That translates to less food available for food pantries to provide for people in need. To meet a spike in demand, the Food Depository and its partners would need to purchase more food and source more donated food items.
At the Pilsen Food Pantry, which distributes about 33,000 pounds of food to about 600 households each week, that would be hard to do, said Dr. Evelyn Figeuroa, the pantry’s founder and director. But Figeuroa’s larger concern is for the longer-term health — and medical bills — of the families they serve.
SNAP helps people access healthier food, which prevents chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, said Figeuroa, who is also a family medicine physician.
“People are going to suffer and these families have children,” she said. “Not all costs are financial. Human suffering is a cost.”
Back at the Irving Park Community Food Pantry, executive director John Psiharis watched the cheerful bustle of the food distribution underway in the church basement. A diverse mix of clientele shopped the pantry’s assortment of fresh produce, dairy, meat, bread — and even pet food. Volunteers wore shirts that said on the back: “Neighbors helping neighbors.”
Though stereotypes persist, Psiharis noted, anyone can find themselves in a position of needing help.
“We don’t know yet what the impact will be, but we’re very anxious about what this next chapter will bring,” Psiharis said of the legislation. “We would really appreciate the community’s support as we navigate this together.”
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