Volunteers for a food drive in Lansing, Michigan, load up a car to take donations to a local food pantry on June 16, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
After two hours of collecting boxes of cereal, bags of chips and loaves of bread during a food drive across the street from the Michigan Capitol Building Monday, participants then filled two cars with food items for the food pantry at First Presbyterian Church of Lansing down the road.
And it might not be enough to feed people for a day, Jim Donaldson who serves on the church’s food pantry board said, looking at the heaping load of food.
The food drive, organized by Michigan Families for Fair Care, is incredibly necessary and appreciated, Donaldson said. But with how much need he sees at the food pantry, now coupled with federal plans to cut food assistance programming for 1.5 million Michiganders, he worries how food pantries are going to be able to bridge the hunger gap.
“There’s so much need and it’s gonna get worse…with the proposed legislation… they won’t be able to survive without going to pantries,” Donaldson. “There’s not much more of a basic need for survival than food, and Christ commands us to feed the hungry.”
Volunteers for a food drive in Lansing, Michigan, load up a car to take donations to a local food pantry on June 16, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Congress is considering a federal spending plan approved by President Donald Trump, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which proposes various cuts to spending, including eliminating nearly $300 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
About 15% of Michiganders rely on SNAP, and more than 59% of Michigan’s SNAP recipients are families with children, according to the Michigan State Budget Office.
Four days a week, a block from the Capitol building, First Presbyterian Church of Lansing feeds 80 to 100 people, including nearby senior citizens, unhoused individuals, veterans and single moms, Donaldson said. Each year, the church’s food supply gets smaller, while demand gets bigger
The pantry gets items from the Greater Lansing Food Bank, which has nearly 100,000 food insecure individuals in its service area, according to Feeding America, though food assistance groups are warning cuts to SNAP will impact every community in Michigan.
The spending plan, mixed with other policies enacted by the Trump administration, is creating a “perfect storm” for hunger that food banks and pantries will not be able to appropriately meet, Ken Estelle, president and CEO of Feeding America West Michigan said in a news release earlier this month.
“Reducing funding for SNAP as well as increased requirements will cause a significant increase in the number of Michiganders seeking food assistance from our food bank,” Estelle said. “We have experienced very high levels of need for food assistance for the past several years, and the potential increase in need because of these budget cuts could well exceed our ability to provide food to everyone in need.”
Michiganders are not in favor of federal plans that threaten to cut food resources to those who need it, Steve Lawson, executive director for Michigan Families for Fair Care, which organized the food drive, said.
Volunteers for a food drive in Lansing, Michigan, load up a car to take donations to a local food pantry on June 16, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan aptly names the card people use to spend their SNAP benefits, the Bridge Card, because it acts as a crucial part of the state’s infrastructure to get people to a better place in their life when they need help, Lawson said.
“It’s our friends, our neighbors, our family members, veterans, people with disabilities, seniors, who depend on these programs, people who have jobs or people who cannot work because of disabilities or child care needs. It’s people we know who depend on these programs,” Lawson said.
Several cars rolled down their windows during the food drive, honking and exclaiming their support as individuals handed volunteers small bags and big boxes of food to go down the street to feed residents in the Capital city.
Lawson remarked that the food drive went well before loading up the cars with the items, but still he and members of different faith and advocacy groups are calling on Michigan elected officials in Michigan to vote against cutting food assistance and other services residents of the state rely on to help pantries continue serving communities.
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