SNAP delays hit Kansas City area hard, as new guidance causes fear, confusion: 'Dark time'

Laura Bauer, The Kansas City Star on Nov 4, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the government shutdown poised to become the longest in U.S. history, tens of thousands of residents in the Kansas City area continue to wait for food assistance as the government hashes out what resources will be doled out and when.

After two judges on Friday ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (referred to as SNAP) flowing during the government shutdown, some funds were expected to be distributed in the coming days this month.

Trouble is, it’s still unknown when that may happen and how much people will get. And new guidance just given to the states from the U.S. Department of Agriculture may have caused further confusion.

Harvesters, a food bank in Kansas City that serves 27 counties in Missouri and Kansas, told The Star it learned Tuesday from partners who have seen the guidance, that the USDA is having states use a “complicated formula” to determine the amount of SNAP benefits each family or recipient gets for November.

Karen Siebert, advocacy and public policy advisor for Harvesters, said the recent court rulings required the Trump administration to “use available SNAP contingency funds to pay at least a portion of November SNAP benefits.“

“(But) the complicated way in which the USDA is determining those partial payments means many individuals and families will receive less than 50% of their expected November SNAP benefits,” Siebert said, “and others may receive no benefits at all.

“And because of the technological requirements needed to make these reduced benefit calculations, families may not receive those SNAP benefits for weeks.”

States review guidance

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on its website last month that due to the shutdown benefits wouldn’t go out the first of November like they normally do. Then the courts weighed in.

But benefits are still not flowing and that has left nearly 42 million people who receive SNAP benefits nationwide in a cloud of uncertainty, wondering where their next meals are coming from.

“It’s just a really dark time for so many people,” said Elizabeth Keever, chief resource officer for Harvesters. “Already we were expecting a surge in demand around the holiday season, and we are truly in uncharted waters right now.”

The Star reached out to both the Missouri Department of Social Services and the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

“DSS received official guidance this morning from the USDA,” the Missouri agency said in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon. “We are in the process of reviewing that guidance and will be issuing communication as soon as we can.”

Kansas’ DCF said it is also “evaluating” the new information ”to understand what it means for Kansans and will provide updates when they are available.”

Keever said the formula states are being given to use is complex.

“I think the problem is this interpretation on how to calculate a partial payment is not as straightforward as cut it in half,” Keever said. “There’s a specific calculation ... guidance on how those funds will be distributed.”

Families line up for assistance

Staff and volunteers at one Baptist church in Independence could see the impact of cuts and the freeze of SNAP benefits at its Monday’s monthly food distribution.

“We had to close early because we ran out of stuff,” said Wes Wakefield, missions pastor at The Gathering Baptist Church, 4505 S. Noland Rd. “You can definitely feel the pressure of people.”

At typical distributions, on the first Monday of the month, The Gathering has about 180 cars come through, Wakefield said. This Monday, they had 270. Staff and volunteers typically hand out 450-500 portions of food, but this time that jumped to 600 portions.

”People were so grateful,” Wakefield said.

The church’s worship pastor, Conor Scholes, often walks the line talking to people during the distribution. He also asks if he can pray with them.

On Monday, Wakefield said, more people rolled down their windows to chat.

“He said you could tell there were more people wanting prayer,” Wakefield said. Staff and volunteers could feel the desperation of some of the people in line.

“There was a lot of uncertainty,” Wakefield said. “People feeling uncertain about how long is this going to last and are we going to be able to continue to feed (our) family, put dinner on the table, or you know, stretch my food that I’m getting?”

______