As of November 5, 2025:
As the government shutdown continues, our neighbors who rely on federal food aid are now in crisis. The federal government has announced that it will release funds for only partial payment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which means those who receive SNAP will likely only receive half of their usual benefits this month and it is not yet clear when payments will be made.
SNAP provides food assistance for 42 million people across the United States. Among them are nearly 472,000 recipients in Philadelphia, or roughly 30% of the city’s population. Nearly 70% of SNAP recipients are children, older adults, or people with a disability.
Here at the St. Peter’s Food Cupboard, we are already seeing an increased demand for the food we distribute every weekend. We handed out food to 139 people on a recent Saturday, a 65% increase in our usual numbers.
The staff and volunteers at the St. Peter’s Food Cupboard are working on ways to better handle the increased demand and make sure we have enough food on the shelves to feed all those who come to our doors. We will send out announcements in the coming weeks with more information, but in the meantime, here’s how you can help feed our neighbors during this difficult time:
Sign up to volunteer:
We are in need of even more volunteers than usual to assist Food Cupboard clients on Saturday mornings. There is no experience necessary.
Click here to volunteer
Sponsor a family for our holiday food drive:
Every holiday season, the St. Peter’s Food Cupboard provides special meals, including frozen chickens and fresh vegetables. We expect a larger than normal demand for those items this year, so please consider making a donation to support this effort. A $20 donation will sponsor a holiday meal for an individual, and a $100 donation will cover a family.
You can make a secure donation online. Select “Food Cupboard” as the fund.
Did you know that some people set up regular monthly payments to support the Food Cupboard? To do that, select “give multiple times” on the donation page.
Donate food:
The St. Peter’s Food Cupboard is most in need of individual packets of oatmeal, breakfast cereal, canned corn, rice, peanut butter, pasta, and canned soup such as Progresso or Campbell’s with meat. Regular-sized items are best so we can distribute the items across more families. It is difficult for us to distribute large bulk items.
Food can be donated on Saturdays from 8-10 a.m. when the Food Cupboard is open (at 313 Pine Street) or from 9 a.m. – Noon Sundays when the church has worship services (at the church at Third & Pine Streets). Or you can contact the church’s Parish Office at 215-925-5968 or email [email protected] to arrange a time to drop off items.