Snacks have replaced books at a Little Free Library box in Lisbon’s Graziano Square. It is one of the many efforts to help address an expected increase in food disparity across the state as the government shutdown has upended Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

When Rebekah Rickett was growing up, her father was always cooking for others, whether it was feeding family or the community through his church, she said. Though she has never experienced food insecurity, he instilled in her a value of ensuring others have enough to eat.

Food being a basic necessity, the Lisbon resident does not think hunger is something a person needs to experience firsthand to understand why access to food matters, she said.

“I don’t think you have to have experienced something to empathize with people,” she said. “… There’s so many people in the world who just because they’ve never experienced it they think that it doesn’t exist or that it doesn’t matter, and most of our country is so much closer to needing food assistance than we are to ever being rich. Most of us live paycheck to paycheck.”

It is why she has temporarily turned Lisbon’s Little Free Library in Graziano Square into a Little Free Snack Pantry, at least until people’s SNAP benefits are secured, she said.

“So I’ve kept the books, and once … people get their benefits back, my plan is to put the books back,” she said.

SNAP provides monthly funding to qualifying low-income or poor individuals or families. Because of the government shutdown, more than 169,000 Mainers were at risk of losing their SNAP benefits in November because of the shutdown, though a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Friday the Trump Administration must continue issuing those funds through the shutdown.

It is unclear, however, when those funds will be issued in November, if people will get the full amount of their benefit, or if any possible appeal of the ruling will be successful.

Gov. Janet Mills announced Wednesday that she is releasing $1.25 million to food pantries and organizations addressing hunger to help families losing their SNAP benefits.

Rickett will continue to provide nonperishable goods at Graziano Square for anyone to take as they need through the month of November despite the ruling, she said. She heard about people placing free food boxes outside their driveway for people struggling with hunger and was inspired by the idea.

Repurposed from a Little Library Box she previously received permission from the town to install, Rickett decided it would be a more appropriate place to make the food available, she said. She thought people would feel more comfortable if the food was in a public place rather than outside her house.

“I would feel weird going to somebody’s house if (I) needed assistance, so I thought that this would be a better way for people to feel comfortable going and taking from the box,” she said.

Cereal, crackers, chips, Gatorade, applesauce and baby food were some of the nonperishable items in the box this past week. It is food that will not go bad quickly as it sits in the box, she said. So far she has received a lot of positive feedback about the box.

Rickett is encouraging others to add nonperishables to the box if they notice stock is low, she said. She will replenish it when she can, but is also encouraging others who have a little extra to contribute nonperishable, unopened and nonexpired items as well. 

“I designated this specifically as a snack box. People can just come and grab a snack. This isn’t supposed to be like, come and fill your pantry, come get your meal for tonight,” she said. “It’s supposed to draw attention to ‘Hey, there is a food crisis going on right now. If you need something to get you to dinner come and grab something.’”

It is not meant to replace donations to food pantries. Rickett is encouraging people to make donations to their local food pantries because people going without SNAP benefits will likely seek assistance from local food organizations, which increases the need for donations, she said. 

Food is the most basic human necessity, she said. People can live if their house burns down, but they need food and water to sustain themselves. She hopes the little snack pantry will also help to destigmatize hunger and the need for food assistance. 

“I want this to help people see that our government has done a really excellent job of rebranding hunger as greed, and I hate that,” she said. “Hungry people are not greedy people, they’re hungry. … There are a lot worse things to be angry about in our country than people needing food.”