When paychecks shrink, food bank lines grow, kids struggle to learn, families eat worse. Millions of Americans are already seeing their income fall, and as soon as November 1, many more will find it harder to buy enough food as federal changes take effect limiting eligibility for the Supplemental Food Assistance Program. Once new regulations are all in place up to 4 million people nationwide could lose some or all of this vital support.  

At my food bank in North Carolina, we – like many - are bracing. In our state 1.4 million people are registered for SNAP, one in every eight people, including more than 40,000 veterans. More than half of North Carolina SNAP households include working parents. 

Food banks will always step up, powered by Americans’ generosity, but we can’t fill the current gap let alone the coming need. Emergency COVID support that stabilized our operations has ended, and USDA is also shuttering a program that helped food banks buy fresh produce.

In a time of partisan gridlock, shrinking benefits and ballooning national debt we can’t continue with a system where Americans’ nutrition security is reliant on government or charity.  

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We need a new model – one where food banks help build resilience in communities, catalyzing opportunity while still addressing emergencies. 

At Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, we’re on a different path. We’re a food bank with a farm – distributing food as we try to rebuild local food systems. On 14 acres we grow collards, sweet potatoes, peppers and more – harvested at peak nutrition down the road from people who’ll eat them. We buy additional produce from local farmers, helping them stay rooted in their communities. We show families how to grow food, support community gardens across our cities, create volunteer opportunities that fight isolation and build belonging, and we run culinary training programs that help neighbors transition from hardship into stable careers.

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A neighbor who learns to grow even a portion of their food is less vulnerable when benefits are cut. A small shift in local infrastructure can reduce reliance on brittle supply chains. For instance, North Carolina farmers currently drive to Virginia to buy seedlings. More high tunnels at home could allow them to grow seedlings locally, trade with each other, increase production and cut costs.

If we lean into local, by the time full SNAP changes roll out in 2027 or 2028, families gardening today may already reclaim some of what they lose — in nutrition, dignity and connection.

Together with our farmers and partners, we think this is what resilience looks like. And I know firsthand this approach works. I grew up on a farm in Ridgeville, South Carolina, deep in Gullah Geechee land. My grandfather grew corn, okra, and collards. At harvest,  neighbors would help. They’d take some home for their families, and the rest he took to market. When the neighbors’ crops came in, we returned the favor.

We lived in a food insecure environment, but we never went hungry. Our community took care of our community. We need to do that again.

That’s why we’re convening the Growing Stronger Communities conference in Raleigh Nov. 5-7, bringing together farmers, policymakers, nonprofit leaders, and advocates to reimagine what it means to feed a community from within.

That’s how we move beyond dependence toward a stronger, more self-sufficient future.

L Ron Pringle is president and CEO of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a food bank in Raleigh, North Carolina.