The longest government shutdown in U.S. history could have long-term repercussions for W.Va. nonprofits

FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The longest government shutdown in U.S. history didn’t just halt SNAP benefits — it pushed West Virginia’s nonprofit network to fill the gaps, potentially creating long-term repercussions for the sector.  

For the first time in U.S. history, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits lapsed on Nov. 1, leaving 274,000 West Virginians without federal assistance for nearly two weeks. A U.S. District Court judge ruled on Nov. 2 that the Trump administration could not withhold the benefits, forcing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute $4.6 billion in reserves to states to provide to residents.

But in the intervening time, Misty Tennant, director of the food assistance non-profit Soup Opera in Fairmont, said her soup kitchen served nearly double the number of people it would typically. 

But in the intervening time, Misty Tennant, director of the food assistance non-profit Soup Opera in Fairmont, said her soup kitchen served nearly double the number of people it would typically. 

“We give out emergency food bags every Friday of the month, and instead of 50 or 55 bags, we gave out 107,” Tennant said. “The numbers just keep increasing, and we've seen like 15 new faces today that we hadn't seen ever.”

She said she’s relieved the benefits are back, but she and other nonprofit leaders say the fallout won’t end with the restoration of SNAP. Instead, the shutdown has created a set of long-term financial and workforce challenges that may take months, or even years, to recover from. 

Rosemary Ketchum, the executive director of the West Virginia Nonprofit Association, explained how food banks were struggling with funding throughout the government shutdown. 

“Many nonprofits that receive state or federal dollars, once those state or federal dollars were paused, they needed to deeply consider or reconsider what their cash flow status was,” Ketchum said. “Just because there has been a continuing resolution doesn't mean that the faucet automatically turns some of those federal and state dollars on. This was the longest shutdown in American history, and many nonprofits, kind of on the day to day without a government shutdown, are doing more with less.”

Uncertainty around long-term, stable funding, may lead many employees of the nonprofit sector to step away from their roles, Ketchum said.

“We often forget that nonprofits are also economic workforce generators, and so about 14% of the West Virginia workforce is in the nonprofit sector, and we want to keep those folks employed,” she said. “Whether or not the government is shut down or active, those folks need to work and need to support their own families.”

Even though the government shutdown ended,  Martin Howe, executive director of the United Way of Harrison and Doddridge Counties, said it doesn’t automatically fix all of the struggles in the nonprofit sector. 

“Most likely a lot of the nonprofits may have to resort to utilizing their reserves … or take out loans, or ultimately some of them may have to cut back on certain programs they offered,” he said. “But even with the government opening back up, there’s going to be a backlog of processing for grants and things such as that that will take months and months to catch up on, so the strain is still going to be experienced by many of these nonprofits that deal directly with federal grants and similar funding streams.”

West Virginia’s two biggest food banks, Facing Hunger in Huntington and Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway, support smaller pantries across West Virginia. 

Mountaineer Food Bank has 470 community partners throughout 48 of the state's 55 counties, including the Soup Opera in Fairmont. 

Beyond access to food, Daniel Brewster, a sociology professor at West Virginia University, said many families face shame that keeps them from seeking help even when they desperately need it. 

“We live in a society that shames people for being poor,” he said. “There is that feeling of inferiority — that looking-glass self — where you start adopting the mentality of ‘people like me can’t do this.’”

Even as organizations brace for long-term financial fallout, Brewster said this crisis again highlighted how deeply West Virginians rely on one another when systems fail. 

“We get this right a lot of times in West Virginia,” he said. “In moments like what we’re seeing with SNAP, the community steps up. When there’s catastrophic flooding, West Virginians step up.”

Now as things return to normal, those in the nonprofit sector reflect on the 42 days of uncertainty, Brewster notes that West Virginians often see the impacts of federal decisions long before Washington, D.C, acknowledges them. 

“All of us are much closer to being in the situation of the people who are struggling right now than we are to being the richest people in the world,” Brewster said.

Faced with these long-term uncertainties, nonprofits are working to diversify their financial portfolios. According to Ketchum, they are looking into funding sources not tied to state or federal dollars.

Regan Duceman contributed to this report.