Well this is a bummer. I get that #FoodStamp fraud prevention is important, but I think the penalty was too harsh. And apparently, the local grocer was unable to bounce back. When I worked for the Reiche School Library, I admired what a gem Fresh Approach was for the neighborhood. Kids and teachers would gather there after school. It was (and still is) a hopping little place. And while I would love to see another local grocery store or a food co-op go into that space, considering the rent increases in #PortlandME because of #gentrification, that probably isn't going to happen.

#FreshApproach market in Portland’s West End will close

Chet and Peggy Knights say they weren’t able to overcome the loss in business after their SNAP license was revoked.

by Peggy Grodinsky, May 13, 2026

" 'With deep regret and broken hearts,” grocers Chet and Peggy Knights announced on social media Wednesday that they are closing Fresh Approach, their longtime West End store.
The Knights have run the classic neighborhood market, located on Brackett Street opposite Reiche Elementary School, for 34 years.
'I’m very sad to hear the news,' said Reiche teacher Kevin Brewster, who was waiting at the lunch counter for his meatball sandwich at noon Wednesday. 'It’s a neighborhood institution.' "

[...]

"The store lost its license to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in February 2025, after an undercover compliance agent was able to purchase ineligible nonfood items. Their Facebook post acknowledged the wrongdoing, and noted that after 11 months, the Knights were able to renew the license.

"But that long stretch without 'a very big part of our business' took its toll. A neighborhood-sponsored GoFundMe campaign helped the beloved store survive the immediate crisis, but even at the time, the Knights said they were unsure it would be enough to save the store."

https://www.pressherald.com/2026/05/13/fresh-approach-market-in-portlands-west-end-will-close/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/3xduI

#MaineNews #NeighborhoodStores #FoodDeserts #FreshFood #Maine

It (non-profit grocers, not the closing!) is a good idea. Hopeful that more rural county, state, and federal funds can help to avoid this result.. #RuralCommunities #Groceries #FoodDeserts #HPPR

A rural nonprofit grocery store is closing in Kansas, showing how hard it is to fight food deserts | HPPR
https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2026-03-24/a-rural-nonprofit-grocery-store-is-closing-in-kansas-showing-how-hard-it-is-to-fight-food-deserts?mc_cid=32c2c79f5b&mc_eid=f1010f8799

Walmart, Kroger, and Dollar Store didn't beat local grocers through competition. They bought politicians to rig the rules.

Millions of Americans now live in food deserts. The antitrust law to fix it is still on the books — we just stopped enforcing it in 1980.

Who's ready to dust it off?

#FoodDeserts #CorporateGreed #MonopolyPower

https://jimhightower.substack.com/p/why-should-we-allow-food-monopolies-6b9

🌮 🍒 🥟 🌍 Food security is food justice (and a climate solution)
"Even as food production increases to feed our growing population, the way we produce our food and the quality of that food has diminished the health of people and the planet."
#Food #Solutions #SocialJustice #FoodDeserts
#Racism #Poverty
#Climate #Environment

https://www.climatesolutions.org/article/2025-10/food-security-food-justice-and-climate-solution

What the data says about food stamps in the U.S. – Pew Research Center

Read our research on: Economy & Work, Middle East, and Donald Trump

Home

What the data says about food stamps in the U.S.

By Drew DeSilver

Even before large pieces of the federal government shut down in October 2025, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP – sometimes called the food stamp program – was in for some big changes.

The tax, spending and policy bill passed by Congress earlier this year expanded work requirements for SNAP, tightened eligibility rules, imposed new cost-sharing obligations on states and made other changes to the program. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the changes will reduce federal spending on SNAP by $186.7 billion over the next decade.

But the 43-day shutdown created further challenges for the program, which helps nearly 42 million Americans put food on the table. While October benefits were paid in full and on time, November’s payments got caught up in a tangle of lawsuits, conflicting court rulings and short-term, state-level fixes. The law reopening the government funds SNAP through September 2026, the end of the current fiscal year.

Here’s a closer look at the food stamp program, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (whose Food and Nutrition Service administers SNAP), the Census Bureau and other sources.

• How many Americans use food stamps?
• How has the number of food stamp recipients changed over time?
• Who is eligible for food stamps?
• What work requirements are there for receiving food stamps?
• What do we know about food stamp recipients in the U.S.?
• How much do food stamp recipients get each month?
• Where is food stamp usage highest and lowest?
• What can you buy with food stamps? What can’t you buy?
• Where can people use food stamps? Where do they use them most frequently?
• How much does the federal government spend on food stamps each year?
• How has the cost of the food stamp program changed over time?
• Why are they called “food stamps,” anyway?

How we did this

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to learn more about the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. The nation’s largest food assistance program, SNAP became entangled in the 43-day budget standoff between congressional Democrats, Republicans and the Trump administration.

Our main data source was the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), the agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers SNAP and other food assistance programs. We supplemented the FNS data with data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, which focuses on the demographic and other characteristics of people and households who receive various forms of federal assistance. We also used the Census Bureau’s population and household estimates in some of our analyses. Finally, we obtained government expenditure data for other federal assistance programs from the Office of Management and Budget.

Our analysis of SNAP participation rates in states and territories used data on SNAP recipients for May 2025 and Census Bureau population estimates for July 2024, the most recent available. For Guam and the Virgin Islands, which the census did not publish estimates of, we used 2024 population estimates from the CIA World Factbook.

How many Americans use food stamps?

The numbers vary from month to month. But in May 2025, the most recent month with available figures, 41.7 million people in 22.4 million households received SNAP benefits. That works out to nearly 1 in every 8 people in the country.

On average, 42.4 million people in 22.7 million households received monthly SNAP benefits through the first eight months of the 2025 fiscal year (October 2024 to May 2025).

SNAP operates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands. A separate program provides nutrition assistance grants to Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

 Editor’s Note: The full online article linked below is long and great. Contains multiple looks at the SNAP and hunger and safety net matter. In addition, based on the report data, I had my AI partners (ChatGPT & Google Gemini) prepare two (2) images to illustrate the data. They are posted below. –DrWeb

Continue/Read Original Article Here: What the data says about food stamps in the U.S. | Pew Research Center

#america #americans #disabled #economics #education #foodDeserts #foodStamps #history #homeless #hungry #pewResearchCenter #poor #safetyNet #snapData #started1964 #trump #unitedStates