With ‘scary’ SNAP cuts coming, Halloween becomes time to share food

Allison Gullick’s Westwood house is a destination for trick-or-treaters. It’s an autumnal white whale: a full-size candy bar house. She also hands out toys for little ones and sodas for teens. Last year, she handed out applesauce pouches. Gullick, a community epidemiologist, thought sharing a healthier option might also be welcome. 

During a holiday that is gleefully not about nutrition, “I went through applesauce like no other,” she says.

One child walked up and grabbed a pouch. Having that applesauce meant there would be something to eat for lunch the next day, the child said.

“That shook me to my core,” Gullick says.

Gullick is the president of the Westwood Village & Estates Historic Neighborhood Association and has lived in the Phoenix neighborhood since 2017. While talking with some neighbors, the idea was floated to share nonperishable food during trick-or-treating on Friday night. 

She and other community members around the Valley are organizing to share what they can in the face of millions of Americans losing federal food benefits on Saturday, Nov. 1. That will include more than 900,000 Arizonans who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also called food stamps. Those benefits are provided on debit-like cards that people can use to shop for groceries.

“It’s very scary for a lot of people,” Gullick says. 

Time is quickly ticking down while Congress remains at an impasse over the federal budget. The government shut down on Oct. 1. Since then, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has refused to dip into a $6 billion contingency fund to cover some benefits in November. Arizona sued the Trump administration, joining 21 other states, to prevent food assistance from being cut off.

Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, announced $1.8 million in food assistance for Arizonans on Wednesday. The funding will go to food banks, with $300,000 tagged for Food Bucks Now, a fresh-food program. Hobbs acknowledged these dollars are a drop in the $150 million bucket needed to fund food assistance in the state. 

The governor encouraged people to lend a hand to their neighbors. And for Valley residents, leaning on each other isn’t new. Community fridges provide lifesaving water in the deadly summer heat. During Thanksgiving, families gather to hand out turkeys. And in the face of SNAP running dry, restaurants have pledged to provide free meals to people receiving federal food assistance. 

As families prep their costumes for Halloween, United Way recommends handing out nonperishable goods in addition to candy this year. The nonprofit organization suggests offering items that are easy for kids to tote with their Halloween treats, like protein bars, pretzels or chips, pudding snacks or microwaveable mac and cheese.

The idea is gaining momentum around the country and here locally. Westwood will have at least three homes, including Gullick’s, handing out more than candy on Halloween. Gullick says she and fellow Westwood neighbors will put out fruits and vegetables, cereal, school snacks, pasta and other options at homes near 21st Avenue and Flower Street, 21st Avenue and Mulberry Drive and 21st Drive and Whitton Avenue. 

The group with donate any remaining food to the food pantry at Encanto Elementary School. Gullick anticipates her Westwood neighbors will continue to share resources during a community garage sale on Nov. 8.

“Everyone deserves to be able to eat and be healthy and survive,” Gullick says. “We’re a community. We all live together in society and we need to help each other out, especially in times of need.”

Phoenix neighbors open their pantries

Chelsea Kenney knows what it’s like to wait for funds to be deposited into an EBT card. Food stamps were a lifeline for her as a young single mother. In the decade since, she’s forged a career in the finance industry. When she was laid off from her job a few weeks ago, she started to panic. Kenney contacted a local food bank and was told she’d have to wait two days before she could visit. 

“That’s when it hit me,” she says. “Oh wow, maybe the food banks are even starting to get packed up.”

While she waited, her family rallied, showing up with pantry staples.

“I’m freaking out, but at least I feel like I can have dinner,” Kenney says.

As she started looking at what people shared, she realized she had more than her family needed. She posted a photo of a plastic shelf stocked with peanut butter, canned vegetables, beans and pastas to the neighborhood app Nextdoor on Tuesday, encouraging people to message her if they were in need.

She’s had several people stop by her home, on the corner of 32nd Street and Desert Cove Avenue, to take a few items for themselves or others. Neighbors have also donated their nonperishable items to what Kenney is calling “the giving shelf.”

“I thought originally I was going to probably only be able to feed maybe four or five families,” she says. “Now it seems like it’s going to turn into a little bit more than that with the help of the community.”

She’s added paper signs that read “Bring a can (or don’t)” and “Take a can.” Hygiene products and a coupon for a free pet exam at a vet clinic have been added. Kenney says neighbors can message her via Nextdoor to set a time to come by. If she can keep the shelf stocked, she hopes to make the giving shelf available through the holiday season.

“If someone could really use that stuff, especially for Thanksgiving, please take it,” Kenney says.