Baltimore restaurant owners collect food for families with SNAP funding in limbo
Owners of a restaurant in Baltimore's Fells Point are collecting food for people in need as the government shutdown continues, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding is in doubt.
Alisha and Gabriel Adibe, who own Oleum in Fells Point, jumped into action, knowing people were losing their food assistance benefits.
"We're new to Baltimore, and when I found out this was going on, where a lot of people were not going to get benefits, I was like, 'We've got to do something,'" Alisha Adibe said.
The couple has been collecting donations of canned food from the community and from their food suppliers to create a mini food pantry for people in need.
They also made pasta and sandwiches to offer people, not just ingredients, but a meal.
"Me serving on active duty for as long as I have, almost 25 years, part of my service is giving back and taking care of each other," Gabriel Adibe said.
A resource for the community
Gabriel Adibe is an active duty Marine who is currently without pay as the shutdown continues. He knows about the struggles people are going through.
"I don't make enough after rent, bills, everything else," said Molly Phillips, who benefited from the Adibes' assistance. "SNAP is just the extra boost to make sure we get by through the month. And with everything being shut down, it kind of makes things difficult."
Community member Latoya Coaxum was grateful for the food she picked up at Oleum.
"We got a big bag of noodles, like that's at least four or five meals of noodles," Coaxum said. "I'm so grateful. Thank you so much."
Although times are tough for the Adibes, as well, they say moments like this are a reminder that we're all in this together.
"My aunt always says love one another, and my mother says it; we have the same thing," said Gabriel Adibe. "That's the principle of Oleum itself; it's the same thing, taking care of other people, and that's what we're doing."
Where do we stand with SNAP benefits?
Two federal judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must tap into contingency funds to make payments for SNAP during the government shutdown, ultimately going against the government in a pair of suits over the imminent benefits lapse, according to CBS News.
CBS News reports that federal Judge Indira Talwani, in Massachusetts, ruled that the government is required by law to tap into the emergency money to make at least partial payments, and gave the administration until Monday to tell the court whether it planned to do so.
CBS News said that Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., from Rhode Island, on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits in full by Monday and to report to the court by noon regarding the status of the distribution.
In the order, the judge said that if the government chooses to use its discretion and decides not to use other funds to make a full payment, then it must make a partial payment using the total amount of the contingency funds, CBS News reports. The order said the contingency funds must be used to make a partial payment by Wednesday.
SNAP benefits provide eligible families with an average of $187 a month on a prepaid card for food purchases, according to CBS News, and families rely on those benefits as their main source of money for food.
The Trump administration said money for SNAP was going to expire on Saturday, Nov. 1, because of the ongoing government shutdown.
According to CBS News, President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that he has "instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible." The president blamed Democrats for causing any delay to the funding and added, "If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay."
