Ahead of public food benefits running out for over a million Bay Staters on Saturday, Gov. Maura Healey announced Thursday that the state will advance a scheduled $4 million payment for food pantries — but is not tapping into the state’s reserves, despite calls from advocates to do so.
Almost every other state in the region has announced they’ll use state funds to cover Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Payment (SNAP) benefits for residents as the federal funds dry up amidst the ongoing federal government shutdown. President Donald Trump can also keep dollars flowing to the program by tapping into contingency funds, but has said he won’t, drawing ire from Democrats and other critics nationwide.
Healey said her administration will advance a monthly $4 million payment to food pantries, for the month of November to help alleviate the extra pressures. Marty Martinez with United Way also announced Thursday that the relief fund Healey set up with United Way last week seeking private donations has topped $1 million.
“As a state we’re going to advance $4 million to our food banks, which support over 800 community organizations around the state. This is from our existing program, which is the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program that already provides $4 million to our community partners every month. So given the expected spike in demand, we are going to be doubling that,” Healey said during a State House press conference.
Massachusetts receives about $240 million monthly for SNAP benefits, and Healey and top lawmakers have consistently said over the past week that the state cannot backfill the amount that usually comes from the federal government.
Massachusetts households that get SNAP benefits receive an average $323 per month. So far in 2025, SNAP benefits have gone to an average of 1.1 million people in Massachusetts each month, including 665,000 families, 342,000 children and 261,500 elderly people, according to Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s lawsuit -- Healey said Campbell is in court Thursday trying to force the federal release of SNAP benefits.
Among the Bay State’s neighbors that have tapped reserve funds to cover the gap: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $30 million in state funds would cover 16 million meals for New Yorkers; Vermont is fully covering SNAP benefits for the first 15 days of November for all 65,000 recipients in their state with $6.3 million in state emergency funds; Connecticut is dedicating $3 million to stretch across the first two weeks of the month; in Rhode Island, Gov. Daniel McKee declared a state of emergency and is using up to $6 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars to help offset SNAP costs; and in Maine, Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday that she’d tap $1.2 million from the state’s contingency account.
Anti-hunger advocacy organizations have called for Healey and lawmakers to draw from the state’s $8 billion rainy day fund.
“As we are here this morning, right now, the USDA is sitting on $23 billion in a contingency fund that could be used to pay these benefits out across the country. In fact, that’s what other presidents have done during a shutdown, but this President has made a decision to not provide those funds,” Healey said.
