LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:
Cuts to SNAP food benefits hit American Indian families hard during the government shutdown because about half of tribal people struggle with food security every year. SNAP payments have been restored, but there could be lasting consequences for families and for tribes, as Montana Public Radio's Aaron Bolton explains.
AARON BOLTON, BYLINE: The snowcapped peaks around the Flathead Reservation in northwest Montana are a sign winter is quickly approaching. Mary Lefthand pulled her truck up to a warehouse belonging to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: If you bring your boxes, they can go in the back.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK.
BOLTON: She's here to get food for her family from the tribal commodity program.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: OK. So I got you some potatoes. I got you some cabbage. I got you onions.
BOLTON: Workers also loaded the truck bed with canned soup and cereal. Lefthand was on SNAP. So during the shutdown, when the Trump administration threatened to cut funding for November, she got scared.
MARY LEFTHAND: Because I have three growing grandkids that eat a lot, so...
BOLTON: She decided to switch to the tribal commodity program. It's also federally funded but wasn't impacted by the shutdown. To qualify, you have to live on the reservation. And you can only participate in one - commodities program or SNAP, but not both. Lefthand always chose SNAP because she can go to any grocery store and choose her own food. That's important when there are picky teenagers living at home.
LEFTHAND: They'll eat cheese, and they'll eat the beef stew.
BOLTON: Lefthand couldn't take the uncertainty of not knowing if or when the November SNAP payments would come in, so she switched to the tribal commodities program. Still, neither program has been enough to feed her family.
LEFTHAND: Towards the end of the month, I usually just feed them plain rice and whatever I can find.
BOLTON: Tribes that run the commodity programs say it did help during the shutdown, but not enough. Tribes that have bison herds started slaughtering more animals.
(SOUNDBITE OF CATTLE LOADING INTO TRUCK)
BOLTON: In Northeast Montana on the Fort Belknap Reservation, Tescha Hawley took a video of tribal members loading cattle into a semi truck. Hawley works for a local nonprofit and says the cattle are destined for local food pantries on the reservation.
TESCHA HAWLEY: Even when the resources are restored for SNAP, families are still going to be behind.
BOLTON: Yadira Rivera with the First Nations Institute in Denver agrees. She says tribes can't simply kill more bison. During the crisis, tribes also spent money on grocery store gift cards or bought processed deer meat from hunters. Now they'll have fewer funds for food assistance down the line.
YADIRA RIVERA: That's going to leave them with the future problem of maybe not having enough access.
BOLTON: And if Native families skipped rent or other bills because of the shutdown, they may be still dealing with those financial hits later.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: There's enough for a good stew or whatever you like to make.
BOLTON: Back on the Flathead Reservation, Lefthand gets ready to drive home. She says she's grateful she was able to switch to the tribal commodities program. Otherwise, she'd be in a tough spot.
LEFTHAND: I'd pass up paying a bill, you know, to actually get groceries.
BOLTON: Once everything settles down, Lefthand plans to switch back to SNAP, but that comes with a cost. She'll have to go without food from the tribal program for a month in order to qualify for SNAP again.
For NPR News, I'm Aaron Bolton in St. Ignatius, Montana.
FRAYER: This story comes from NPR's partnership with Montana Public Radio and KFF Health News.
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