Lincoln hunger relief nonprofits brace for impacts from Big Beautiful Bill

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The ink on President Donald Trump’s spending plan is barely dry, but here in Lincoln, the repercussions are heavy on the minds of hunger relief organizations.

According to Axios, the law reduces funding for nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by $186 billion over 10 years.

“We know the number of neighbors who utilize SNAP in Nebraska is around 155,000, and that includes about 66,000 children and 17,000 seniors,” said Amanda Fahrer, spokeswoman for the Food Bank of Lincoln.

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Fahrer said she is already noticing affects from these cuts, and she expects to see more.

“We do anticipate that this will put a continued burden on our neighbors facing hunger and the ability to put food on the table,” she said. “Here at the food bank, we’re already seeing an increase in need, and we expect that will continue to be the trend moving forward.”

The executive director of Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach, Alynn Sampson, said many people who come there are on SNAP benefits, and without those, it will be devastating.

“When you take all of these things away, you’re just taking away those steps to getting them stability,” she said. “The ultimate consequence is essentially, we’re just releasing them back out onto the streets, which is what we don’t want as a community.”

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Sampson said Matt Talbot will continue to advocate for the community, despite the hardships it faces from this law.

“I think it’s really upon us to show our guests and our clients that we won’t give up in this fight because we can’t,” she said. “We know that nonprofits alone cannot fund this by ourselves. We have to have community and government support. We can’t do this just one or the other. We can’t let this stop us.”

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