Benefits won’t be paid as usual Nov. 1, state has said; unknown if or when court order mandating diversion of funds to recharge program funding can take effect

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

Ashland resident Aubrie Grace Wilson has dreams of becoming a university psychology professor, but for the Rogue Community College grad, it’s hard to plan long term when immediate needs might not be met due to the ongoing government shutdown.

As of Saturday, Nov. 1, Wilson will be among 15,980 people in Jackson County who won’t see their monthly allotment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, according to Oregon Department of Human Services. 

Wilson, 24, usually receives upwards of $200 reloaded onto her card at the beginning of each month. Wilson and her partner, Caleb Berg, 26, along with their 3-year-old pug mix, Courage, live in an apartment in Ashland.  

“It’s a life-changing event for a lot of people,” Wilson told Ashland.news by phone earlier this week.

Wilson expressed a desire for individuals to show compassion amid the government shutdown.

“At the very baseline, we just need to be kind to one another,” she said, “and when we’re making choices to where our neighbors can’t even put food on the table for their children, we’re probably not making the best decisions.”

After earning an associates degree in human services from Rogue Community College, Wilson said she moved to Ashland in 2023, with plans to transfer to Southern Oregon University to continue her education. 

Her continuing education is now on pause while she navigates a disability.

“I was supposed to start at SOU, but then I had all this health stuff happen,” Wilson said.

“Now I’m just kind of in this weird in-between. I’m hoping to get back to it soon.”

Wilson said she’s been utilizing SNAP benefits since 2021, when she moved to Oregon from Alabama. She describes SNAP as “the difference between eating and not eating” for her and her partner.

“I’m in, like, a freeze response … kind of like a state of shock because that’s been one constant … one reliable thing for me,” Wilson said. “When everything else is in a tailspin and everything else in my life is uncertain and on its head, at least I’ve known I’ll at least have a little bit of food.

“Now, I’m not even going to be able to have that,” she added. “I don’t even know what to do or where to go.”

Ashland.news met up with the couple on Thursday as the pair took their dog for a walk around their neighborhood.

Wilson’s partner has been out of consistent work for some time. The couple currently receives rental assistance and has been receiving SNAP benefits up until this coming month, when benefits will not be distributed due to the month-long and counting government shutdown, pending the federal government reaction to a court order Friday ordering the transfer of funds to the SNAP program. When and how that will happen — and how long additional funds would last — is uncertain.  

Associated Press has reported that $187 is the average amount of SNAP benefits distributed nationally to about 1 in 8 Americans at a monthly cost of some $8 billion.

“I know how to live in poverty, so I know how to get myself through the month on very little,” Wilson said. “I have always been able to make it on what they give me, but I don’t know how to do it with nothing.”

On top of concerns over the loss of SNAP benefits, Wilson has a rare brain disorder that so far has kept her from working a regular job. 

Wilson was diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension the same day her mother died in 2020. Wilson was only 19 at the time. 

“My life has never been the same,” Wilson said.

Her condition mimics the symptoms of a brain tumor, without the tumor, but causes numerous health issues such as excess fluid on the brain, causing an immense feeling of pressure. 

Subsequently, she’s experienced brain fog, intense headaches, confusion, vision changes, and severe fatigue. 

Symptoms are harder to spot from the outside looking in and she gets comments reflecting how invisible her disability can look and feel.

“I’ve applied multiple times for disability and I’ve been denied, and I’m currently trying to get some help with that,” she said.

“As for right now, I’m not receiving any sort of disability benefits. I have zero income and I’m not able to work.”

Navigating lumbar punctures, multiple doctors appointments, and medications has been her main focus, but now it will also be figuring out how to move forward without SNAP benefits.

After being diagnosed and in an effort to return to an area close to family, Wilson drove from Alabama to Oregon in 2021, where she could be both close to her dad and also where she could recover at a sober living facility following a substance abuse addiction. Wilson said she has been sober for four years.

As she made progress in recovery, Wilson pursued an associates degree at Rogue Community College in Grants Pass. 

Her disability began to progress, however, making finishing her education difficult.

“I started struggling so bad at school for the last few months because of how bad my health was doing,” Wilson said. 

“It was just such a scary and unprecedented time in my life that I have still not figured out how to navigate,” Wilson said.

As for what she plans to do in the future with benefits ending for SNAP recipients, Wilson expressed being hesitant about going to local food banks out of concern for mothers with children who might need its services more.

“I feel like if someone’s got to starve … it might as well be me,” Wilson said.

Ashland food bank says everyone is welcome

Ashland Community Food Bank Executive Director Amey Broeker acknowledged concerns by some like Wilson who might feel like they shouldn’t seek out assistance from food banks, but she noted everyone is welcome and even encouraged to seek assistance if they need it.

“A lot of people in our community are struggling to make ends meet,” Broeker said. “You’re not alone if you’re struggling, and the healthiest thing you can do for your household, even if you’re a household of one, is take a serious look at how you can make ends meet. And we consider the food bank a line item on people’s budgets.

“We’re here to help ensure that you can remain as vibrant as you hope to be … and it’s pretty hard to do that without adequate nutrition,” Broeker added.

She also acknowledged that individuals with a disability like Wilson can often struggle with becoming eligible for disability benefits, too.

“Disability’s very difficult to get qualified for,” Broeker said. “It’s a tremendous amount to navigate and not everybody has the ability to navigate the system to get qualified for disability.”

The Ashland Community Food Bank is a private nonprofit, unaffiliated with Oregon Community Food Bank, and thus will not receive anything from the $5 million being sent by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek to food banks across Oregon.

Broeker started in her role in April 2022, at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The following spring of 2023, as all COVID relief programs sunsetted, Broeker said the impact was immediate.

“We saw a 100% increase in demand within 30 days, so we’re using that as our metric of what may come,” Broeker said.

“We were already prepared for a significant increase in need and the government shutdown is quite dramatic if they actually don’t provide SNAP or WIC (Women and Children) benefits for a period of time. It’s going to have a tremendous impact.”

She has anticipated impacts to those who come to the food bank since passage and signing into law of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which tightens SNAP requirements that she describes as “eliminat(ing) groups of people from being eligible.”

“It’s making it just more difficult to be eligible for SNAP benefits,” Broeker said.

Those within a certain age bracket have to either work or volunteer 80 hours per month unless they have disability benefits. 

But many of those who come to Ashland Community Food Bank are already working, Broeker said, such as Chylan Toal.

“I didn’t think it was actually going to happen,” Toal told Ashland.news, about SNAP benefits drying up in November, as she waited for a ride.

“But it’s real … so here I am,” Toal said. 

The 49-year-old area resident beamed as she looked over a cart-full she received Friday morning from the food bank.

With a day off from her 35-hour per week seasonal job at Harry & David in Medford, Toal had filled her cart with staples such as eggs, bread, fruits and vegetables, with some egg nog to add some holiday cheer.

“They don’t have the coffee, but we got the coffee creamer,” Toal added.

She expressed excitement at being able to get to the food bank on a weekday, when she would normally be at work.

“Because … end of the month,” Toal said, noting the need is high.

That is the time of the month when SNAP benefits run out, and in this scenario, won’t be reloaded unless actions are taken to end the federal government shutdown.

Toal lives with four other housemates as well as her two landlords. Without a bus stop nearby, she relies on a ride.

She used to be homeless, describing it as an “act of God” that brought her through it and into a better living situation. She credits her current landlord for help in doing so.

Toal grew excited as her landlord drove up, telling her landlord, “I’m talking about you right now!”

Broeker, the food bank director, said she has seen a lot of new households this week — many with combined households, households with children and those with multiple generations.

“We’ve seen a lot of households we haven’t served in a long time,” she said.

In addition to the anticipated loss of SNAP benefits as of Saturday, Broeker also noted the loss of reliable transportation for those like Toal.

It took Broeker two years advocating for a bus stop at the end of Clover Lane near the food bank.

“We finally got it last September and when RVTD made their cuts, that got cut,” Broeker said. “That whole entire route got cut.

“The closest bus stop is a half mile and often people are leaving with 30 to 50 pounds of food. Even (for) a healthy person, that’s a lot to carry.”

Broeker anticipates that the food bank could continue to see an increase in visitors next week, if and when the government shutdown continues.

She said the food bank welcomes donations of both perishable and non-perishable food and funds to buy more. 

Ashland Community Food Bank is also open on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. as well as on the third Saturday of the month at 560 Clover Lane, southeast of Exit 14. Residents of Talent and Ashland are eligible to receive food from the food bank. There is no income requirement.

Reach Ashland.news staff reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].