The snowcapped mountains around northwest Montana’s Flathead Reservation signal winter’s approach. Mary Lefthand drives down into the valley to a warehouse in St. Ignatius to pick up free food from the commodity program run by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Tribal commodity programs are federally funded and weren’t affected by the recent federal government shutdown — unlike SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which briefly left 41 million recipients uncertain about November benefits.
Lefthand receives SNAP and prefers it because she can shop for her own groceries. But the shutdown’s uncertainty made her anxious, and she switched to the tribal commodity program. “Because I have three growing grandkids that eat a lot,” she said. Lefthand relies on food aid for her entire grocery budget, but even with assistance she often falls short. “Toward the end of the month, I feed them plain rice and whatever I can find,” she said.
Any disruption to food aid can hit American Indian communities especially hard. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, a professor of medicine and rural health at Oklahoma State University, says more than 60% of Native people rely solely on such programs as their primary source of food. Research shows about 46% of Indigenous Americans experience food insecurity each year, compared with roughly 10% of the general U.S. population.
With SNAP payments suspended, tribes scrambled to fill gaps. For people living on reservations, rules generally allow enrollment in either tribal commodities or SNAP, but not both — prompting many to seek out the commodity option when SNAP was in limbo. Nicholas White, manager of the Salish and Kootenai Tribes Commodity Program, says demand surged as people applied to the tribal program.
Some tribes took drastic measures. The Blackfeet Nation in northwest Montana declared a state of emergency and slaughtered 18 buffalo from its herd to feed community members. Many tribes killed more bison than they otherwise would have, a decision that could slow the growth of nascent herds and harm long-term food security.
Other responses came from nonprofits and tribal initiatives. Tescha Hawley of the Day Eagle Hope Project on the Ft. Belknap Reservation diverted grant funds to buy cattle and distribute meat to temporary food banks serving the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre communities. Grants originally aimed at helping tribal farmers and ranchers sell locally were reallocated to meet immediate needs. Tribes and nonprofits also increased distributions from self-funded food aid programs.
But the extra work and expense largely won’t be reimbursed. Yadira Rivera, director of Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investment at the First Nations Development Institute, warns that absorbing those costs will leave tribes and organizations with future financial problems. Some tribal food programs expect to remain stretched thin through the holiday season, typically their busiest period.
Even though the shutdown ended with a deal that provided SNAP a full year of funding, households may still suffer downstream effects. Families who faced weeks of uncertainty may have skipped rent or other bills to buy food. Studies show loss of food assistance often leads to other financial consequences, including evictions. Georgetown Law professor David Super, who studies welfare law, notes that losing SNAP can force people to choose between food and medications.
Lefthand says switching to the commodity program prevented her from falling behind on bills. She plans to stay on commodities for a while and likely return to SNAP when the timing works — but she faces a bureaucratic hurdle: to re-enroll in SNAP she must leave the tribal commodities program for at least a month to qualify.
This story comes from NPR’s health reporting partnership with Montana Public Radio and KFF Health News.