Anne Arundel County dips into emergency funds to replenish food bank during government shutdown

Emergency funds will help Anne Arundel County set up food distributions, as many neighbors are impacted by the government shutdown and the pause on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced on Tuesday plans to provide $500,000 in emergency funds to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank.

"The Trump administration's initial refusal to release funding for SNAP has caused delays and uncertainty for families who are trying to get food on the table," Pittman said. "That, paired with the number of federal workers and contractors who are not being paid during this shutdown, has resulted in a great need for more food assistance."

The $500,000 funding for the Anne Arundel County Food Bank for this program will come from the county's $10 million federal disaster response fund that was included in the FY26 budget. 

Food distributions will begin on November 10. Each distribution will take place from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., or until food runs out. There will be 500 boxes of non-perishable food available at each site. 

The schedule for the first week of distributions is as follows: 

• Monday, November 10: Severn Senior Activity Center - 1160A Reece Road, Severn, MD 21144
• Tuesday, November 11: County Closed for Veterans Day 
• Wednesday, November 12: Lula G. Scott Nutrition Center - 6243 Shady Side Rd, Shady Side, MD 20764
• Thursday, November 13: Annapolis Senior Activity Center - 119 S Villa Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401
• Friday, November 14: Pascal Senior Activity Center - 125 Dorsey Rd, Glen Burnie, MD 21061

Food bank seeing more hungry families

The need for food is growing in the county.

"At one of our mobile distributions in the Fort Meade area, we had uniformed service members in line for food," said Anne Arundel County Food Bank CEO Leah Paley. "That should not happen."

Paley said the Anne Arundel County Food Bank is serving nearly 90 households per distribution. That's 30 more households than they saw in July.

"Over the past two weeks, phone calls and email inquiries to our organization have skyrocketed," Paley said. "Our website traffic, from last month to this month, is up 250%. That's just people looking for food."

Paley said many of the people searching for food are coming to the food bank for the first time.

"They have expressed to our staff that they're scared," Paley said. "They're embarrassed."

"We've got about 15,000 civilian federal workers who work for the federal government in our county, most of whom are not getting paid," County Executive Pittman said.

Working to end the government shutdown

Meanwhile, Congressman Johnny Olszewski, from Maryland, volunteered at the Assistance Center of Towson Churches' food distribution center in Towson on Tuesday.

There, he said he spoke with some Republicans Monday night who offered an idea that would temporarily extend Affordable Care Act benefits and ultimately end the government shutdown.

"If that framework also includes preventing additional cuts by this Trump Administration, it is a framework worth considering," Olszewski said.

Rep. Olszewski applauded that independent conversation. He said now, it's time to bring these discussions to Washington, DC.