TCA in the News

by Steven Pappas & WHAM Staff
Mon, October 20th 2025

Rochester, N.Y. — Some 42 million Americans are at risk of losing access to food stamps soon as the federal government shutdown continues.

Without a deal, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will run out of funding at the end of the month.

Advocates in Rochester gathered Monday at St. Peter’s Kitchen to call on the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP benefits even if the shutdown continues into November.

Robert Boyd, CEO of St. Peter’s Kitchen, highlighted the potential impact on the community, stating,

“What we’re really concerned about today is November SNAP benefits, and if these benefits are not paid, there’s about 64,000 people in the Rochester area that are going to be affected.”

“It is devastating my neighbors, it is devastating families, it is devastating children,” said Isabel Rosa, advocacy coordinator for The Children’s Agenda. “We have done nothing to deserve this. This treatment is cruel and it is merciless.”

Earlier this year, lawmakers approved the largest cut to food assistance in U.S. history as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Advocates also called for the Trump administration to reinstate the Household Food Security Report, the federal government’s annual report on hunger in America, which it announced it would scrap following the upcoming release of the 2024 report.

“What we’re seeing now is a direct war on the poor,” said Lisle Coleman, Western New York community organizer for VOCAL-NY. “There is a complete dismantling of the social services systems that have kept many of our families afloat in this community and across the country since they’ve existed. We are seeing the most outright divide between the haves and the have-nots that this country has ever witnessed, and those at the top — the super elite — are becoming richer and richer while our families get more and more destitute, more hungry, more desperate. And without basic services like health care, we will see our community members get sicker and sicker, and we will see more deaths across the community as these cuts go into place.”

Original story here: https://13wham.com/news/local/advocates-call-for-trump-administration-to-reverse-snap-cuts-food-stamps-hunger-insecurity