Neighbors are helping fellow community members nationwide, signing up to be a grocery buddy and paying for food as SNAP recipients and others have lost their benefits during the government shutdown.

People are connecting through social media posts or grassroots efforts within communities to provide food assistance, and a brother-sister pair also launched a website that can link up people nationally.

Many of those participating also say they will continue to do so after partial or full SNAP benefits resume. On Nov. 6, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to fully cover the benefits by Nov. 7. The order comes days after the president, in response to an earlier order, said only partial benefits would be provided for November.

Neighbors helping as grocery buddies

Last week, Kelsey Strouse, 34, saw a post on a buy nothing social media group chat about grocery buddies.

"I thought 'someone should organize something to connect these people,' and well, I'm on maternity leave and have a little flexibility. I guess I'll try," said the Princeton, New Jersey, teacher.

Within six days, Strouse matched 100 families. She has temporarily closed her form since she had 90 more families asking for help and not enough people who wanted to be grocery buddies.

"It really does have a neighbors helping neighbors feel," Strouse told USA TODAY. "For the people who are buying the groceries, they can really see the tangible effect rather than just giving money to an organization. For the people receiving the groceries, they feel ... 'My community has my back.'"

Strouse said once she pairs people with each other, they coordinate. Some send money directly to the recipient or they go shopping together. Strouse's husband got a list of groceries needed from the person they were paired with and dropped off $100 worth of groceries.

Strouse has seen first-hand what happens when her students have faced food insecurity. "I know in my classroom, if a kid has not gotten enough to eat over the weekend, Monday is tough," she said.

Dina Skinner, 54, a single mother of a 19-year-old in Princeton was grateful to have someone buy her groceries.

Skinner worked as a social worker until a brain tumor sidelined her career. Her grocery buddy met her and gave her $200 in grocery gift cards.

"I was just so appreciative," Skinner said. "It's very humbling."

Outpouring of help lifts spirits

In Milwaukee, Meag Sargent, 30, posted on her social media accounts her interest in being a grocery buddy. But she quickly started hearing from more people needing help than she could sponsor.

So she reached out to a group chat of friends, including Jenny Holmdohl, 31.

When they created a Google Form and put it online, they quickly received more than 200 requests from volunteers and recipients. Sargent said they've been "building this plane as we go," but they've so far paired 20 people and have an additional 50 they're trying to connect.

The friends said they decided not to limit those requesting help to SNAP recipients, saying there are plenty of people who have food insecurity who don't qualify for benefits. They also plan on continuing to pair people, even if SNAP benefits get reinstated since many people have said even with full benefits, it is still a struggle to afford groceries.

Sargent is helping two families for November and December. She is contributing $400 a month for one family and is trying to coordinate with the other, a single mom with one child who asked for $50 worth of groceries. Sargent said she's trying to see if she needs more help.

The friends said they've been heartened to see so many people help others they don't know.

"In the last year, I've been feeling pretty down about society and been like 'People don't care about one another, nobody's connecting.' This has really proved the opposite. I'm starting to actually think the collective is feeling the exact same way as me," Holmdohl said.

"We are coming together and working together to make some good change," she said.

Connecting grocery buddies across the country

While many of the grocery buddy systems popping up around the country are based in specific communities, Nina Quincy had a different idea. The Houston woman asked her brother in Mooresville, North Carolina, to build a website to connect people in need and people willing to help anywhere in the United States.

Within 48 hours, Brent Friar, who owns a digital marketing and website development firm, and his colleagues had Findagrocerybuddy.com up and running. The website is set up for recipients to request a shopping cart of food from Instacart and via PayPal. A grocery buddy can sponsor the cart. No information is shared between the recipient and the donor.

The website launched Oct. 31, and so far, has helped 36 families in 15 states. Friar said the process has been slow because he is manually checking and confirming eligibility for people who have lost their SNAP benefits, are federal workers without pay, or are food insecure for another reason such as a layoff. He's hoping to get some more volunteer help to speed the process along.

Most applicants have been asking for groceries of about $150 to $200, but the largest single purchase was a donor who bought more than $600 worth of food for a family, Friar said.

Miriam Kavanagh, 49, of Covington, Kentucky, was shocked when a stranger paid for about $180 worth of Instacart groceries within a day of her applying on the website.

"Many people feel like those who are on SNAP just buy junk food," she said. "I was grateful to finally be able to buy fresh spinach as opposed to canned spinach for my smoothies, which I knew I couldn't do during the shut down."

In a thank you note Kavanagh hopes will reach her grocery buddy, she called the person a "saint on the street."

"You have made my life so much easier. With all the languages in the world, there still aren’t enough ways to say thank you. Whoever you are, whatever you do, you, your family, and your friends will forever be in my prayers."

Contributing: Sarah D. Wire

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which breaks down complex consumer and financial news. Subscribe here.

(This story was updated to reflect judge's Nov. 6 order.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Grocery buddies are helping buy food for SNAP recipients. What are they?

Reporting by Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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