The Leon Levine Foundation provides $425,000 in emergency funding to combat food insecurity

The board of The Leon Levine Foundation authorized $425,000 in emergency funding at the start of November to provide emergency cash assistance for SNAP-dependent families in North and South Carolina.

A lack of congressional approval for a federal spending bill temporarily halted federal funding for a number of key programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP provides food assistance to low-income households. Approximately 2 million people in the Carolinas, including hundreds of thousands of children, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families, rely on SNAP benefits to afford food. For every one meal a food bank provides to families, SNAP provides nine.

In the days following the federal government shutdown, Carolina families faced mounting pressure after finding their SNAP benefits in flux, with payments late and significantly reduced.

Emergency funding from The Leon Levine Foundation was distributed through GiveDirectly, putting cash quickly, efficiently, and directly into the hands of the most vulnerable SNAP-dependent families in both North and South Carolina.

“This is a moment of urgent need for thousands of hardworking families, children, and seniors in the Carolinas,” Tom Lawrence, TLLF president and CEO, said. “Our food bank partners and other service providers across the Carolinas are doing yeoman’s work, and they can’t do it alone.”

A growing number of North Carolina-based organizations stepped up to meet the need, including the State of North Carolina, donating nearly $22 million to fight hunger in the days following the benefits freeze.

“These donations will help fill the gap and keep people fed,” Gov. Josh Stein said. “I am immensely grateful to North Carolina organizations that are showing up for their neighbors.”

Public and private partners that contributed include:

• AdventHealth
• AmeriHealth Caritas
• Bank of America
• Centene Foundation
• Coca-Cola Consolidated
• Compare Foods
• Cone Health Foundation
• David & Nicole Tepper Foundation
• Delaware North and Catawba Two Kings Casino
• Dogwood Health Trust
• The Duke Endowment
• Duke Energy Foundation
• Eastern Ministerial Alliance
• Empire Eats
• Food Lion Feeds
• The Fresh Market
• Lending Tree
• The Leon Levine Foundation
• North Carolina Retail Merchants Association/Carolinas Food Industry Council
• Nucor Charitable Foundation
• Smithfield Foods
• State of North Carolina
• r4 Technologies Smart Food Foundation
• UNC Health Foundation & UNC Horizons

In South Carolina, the Central Carolina Community Foundation activated the One SC Fund to provide emergency monetary support to food banks and local feeding partners statewide. The One SC Fund is a statewide initiative supported by philanthropic donors and funders from across the state and country. In the week following the expiration of SNAP benefits, the fund received approximately $265,000 from more than 600 donors.

The funding from The Leon Levine Foundation benefited families in both Carolinas.

“Long-term solutions will not come from philanthropy alone,” Lawrence said. “However, our neighbors cannot afford to wait for a federal government resolution. Together, we must do what we can to ensure underserved Carolinians do not go hungry.”