Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – When the Citizens Club of Springfield had a program about the state of SNAP benefits – food stamps – the talk swung to safety-net services in general. And Central Illinois Foodbank executive director Pam Molitoris said the temporary suspension of the program was devastating.

“A lot was disrupted when the snap disruption happened,” said Molitoris. “It wasn’t just the Foodbank, it was not just people that were on SNAP, it was all of the vendors, too. and the thing people – I don’t know if they always thought about – what did this do in terms of impacting the food supply, and you would be amazed at how disruptive this was and difficult it was. But we got it done.”

An audience member asked, what can we do? Molitoris said the first thing is … to care.

Another panelist, Table of Life Ministries pastor Jessie Herring, said sometimes she feels like crying.

“We are making a difference in this community,” said Herring. “I did a survey, and they were saying how much they appreciate us and the things we were doing and the food, because they do not have the income.”

Audience member Jill Steiner, who is chief human resources officer at the YMCA of Springfield, touched on work requirements to get social services. “You can have people really willing to do it and ready to do it, but this community lacks the opportunity to do it,” she said. “You can say people need to work those hours, but if there is no outlet to get to the opportunities, they’re just stuck.”