Empty fridges, no bread or meat: Oregonians staring down cutoff of SNAP benefits are scared

Each month, Portland resident Alicia Rogers spends the entire $191 that the federal government loads onto her SNAP card the same day the money arrives.

“The first shopping trip, it’s gone,” said Rogers, a 39-year-old single mother of two, ages 9 and 15.

But today, Rogers won’t be able to do that, as a lapse in benefits through SNAP — also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — is set to take hold for 757,000 Oregonians amid the federal shutdown. That has left Rogers in enormous angst.

“Nervous,” “worried,” “stressed,” “overwhelmed” and “upset” are all words Rogers uses to describe the possibility that she won’t be able to feed herself and her two children for the entire month. She said the money she earns as a full-time caregiver for a nonprofit simply doesn’t go f