SNAP freeze hits hard in Gila County

Updated Nov. 9, 2025, 5:55 P.M.

At the Gila Community Food Bank in Globe, phones have been ringing and the patron list has been growing.

“So the government shut down and everybody’s in a mess,” said volunteer Roberta Loyd, who has volunteered at the food bank on and off for 14 years. “There’s a very large impact, and hopefully people who come up here are patient.”

As she directed foot traffic at the food bank last Monday, the first day it had been open since November's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits had been suspended, she explained that the number of families seeking food has spiked. 

Last month, Gila Community Food Bank served 794 families, Loyd said, and that number had increased by 100 within two weeks. Those served include not only Globe-Miami residents, but also patrons from San Carlos, Tonto Basin, and even families from Young, Winkelman, and Kearney.

The influx comes as federal SNAP benefits — monthly funds that help low-income households buy food — had been temporarily halted for the first time in the program’s 85-year history by the government shutdown. Additionally, Globe-Miami families are still recovering from the financial effects of the September and October floods that hit the region.

SNAP payments were frozen across the country

About 1 in 5 Gila County residents rely on the SNAP, compared to 1 in 8 Americans nationwide. In September alone, more than $1.9 million in benefits were distributed in Gila County to nearly 11,000 people, with the average issuance per person at $175. More than 3,600 of those recipients were children. 

But with the federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1, those benefits were temporarily frozen.

“Participants approved for SNAP are still unable to receive November benefits until federal funding is released to states,” said Brett Bezio, public relations chief of Arizona’s Department of Economic Security, on Oct. 31. DES administers SNAP within the state. 

With the shutdown, there was no new funding allocated for SNAP.

"Bottom line, the well has run dry," the United States Department of Agriculture stated on its website.

The department oversees SNAP, and on Oct. 10, it notified states to suspend November benefits. Two federal courts later ruled that the USDA must continue the program, prompting the department to announce on Nov. 3 that it would use contingency funding to cover partial payments of November’s benefits.

By Nov. 7, USDA announced the approval of the issuance of full November 2025 SNAP benefits, and Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced DES approved the transmission of benefit payment files for Arizona SNAP participants to receive full benefits from USDA for November.

DES stated that on Nov. 8, DES would resume its regular issuance schedule, and that SNAP clients could see benefits issued to their EBT cards within days.

Local need versus supply

For food banks like Globe’s, the uncertainty is great. The food bank hasn’t received additional supplies to meet the demand, as it relies primarily on salvaged goods from local supermarkets, along with some private donations. The food bank receives whatever is available. 

“People who have never been to the food bank before are coming in,” Loyd said. “Some are worried about the free school program, the lunches and breakfasts.”

So far, such national programs, along with the supplemental SNAP program Women, Infants, and Children, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Commodity Senior Food Program, remain funded for now.

Still, the calls keep coming.

“I actually got a text at five o'clock this morning from a family of five,” Loyd said. “She works two jobs, and she saw they cut off SNAP. She asked me, ‘Can I get a box?’ I said, ‘Bring me your ID.’”