An ongoing federal government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, has made it possible that funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be halted beginning Saturday. The SNAP, which is also known as “food stamps,” helps low-income families buy groceries. Benefits are distributed monthly to electronic debit cards issued to participants.
The Department of Public Instruction has been inundated with questions about whether the pause in SNAP funds will affect students’ ability to access free and reduced-price meals at school. It will not. Students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals will get them for the remainder of the school year, Baesler said.
The question arose because families who qualify for SNAP benefits automatically are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, and callers worried about whether a stoppage of SNAP money would also affect funds for school meals, which are administered by the Department of Public Instruction. North Dakota’s Department of Health and Human Services administers the SNAP.
The Department of Public Instruction administers three other food programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They are:
- The Emergency Food Assistance Program. This is offered through local food pantries and soup kitchens. Participants are asked to fill out a form at the pantry/soup kitchen. They are asked to declare their income and are not required to offer documentation. A list of participating food pantries is here.
- The Commodity Supplemental Food Program. It can be accessed by low-income households if a member is at least 60 years old. The program application is here. Completed applications should be emailed to dpicnfd@nd.gov. It will then be sent to a local agency in Fargo, Devils Lake, Bismarck, Dickinson, or Williston for additional processing.
- The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations program provides U.S. Agriculture Department foods to income-eligible households on Indian reservations, and to Native American households in designated areas near reservations. More information about this program is here. It is an alternative to SNAP. Households may not participate in this program and SNAP during the same month.
Melissa Anderson, assistant director of child nutrition and food distribution for the Department of Public Instruction, said the programs can be indirectly affected by the SNAP money stoppage because it will put more pressure on their food supplies. The Emergency Food Assistance and the Commodity Supplemental Food programs also do not have funds to cover food shipping costs, Anderson said.
An average of 48,700 North Dakotans used the SNAP program each month during the most recent state budget year, which ended June 30. The NDDPI estimates that more than 40 percent of North Dakota beneficiaries are children. More than 57,000 North Dakotans drew almost $10 million in benefits last May, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.
Nationally, more than 42.6 million people used the program during the 2025 fiscal year, with an average $230.34 monthly benefit per person.
Text of links:
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: https://www.hhs.nd.gov/applyforhelp/snap
Commodity Supplemental Food Program application: https://tinyurl.com/2ubdf85y
Food pantry locations: https://greatplainsfoodbank.org/get-help/partner-food-pantries/
USDA SNAP data: https://tinyurl.com/2xw7a52t