One Fair Wage launches SNAP emergency fund for service workers as Trump administration slashes food assistance
As the federal shutdown drags into its second month, millions of Americans are facing an escalating food crisis.
Even after two federal court rulings ordered the Trump Administration to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, the administration announced it will only cover 50 percent of November’s payments, leaving 42 million Americans — including millions of working people — still at risk of going hungry. The result is widespread food insecurity and uncertainty about how families will put food on the table.
In response, One Fair Wage is launching the Service Workers SNAP Emergency Fund to provide immediate relief to the workers hit hardest: restaurant and service workers, the very people who feed us but too often cannot afford to feed themselves.
This moment reveals a deeper failure: half of the people who receive food stamps already work, but are paid wages so low they still need assistance to survive.
In 2023, 41 percent percent of adults receiving SNAP were employed, and nearly 60 percent of households with children had at least one working adult.
According to One Fair Wage research, service workers rely on SNAP at twice the rate of other workers, a reflection of poverty wages across the industry.
“The people who feed us can’t afford to feed themselves,” said Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage. “This isn’t just a story about food assistance. It’s a story about poverty wages. 42 million Americans rely on food stamps, and millions of them are working. That reveals the crisis for what it really is: people working full time and still going hungry because wages are too low to live on. The solution isn’t half benefits or emergency patches — it’s living wages. Blue states have both the opportunity and the responsibility to lead by passing laws that ensure no one who works for a living ever has to depend on food stamps to eat.”
How the fund works
The Service Workers SNAP Emergency Fund will provide direct cash assistance to restaurant and service workers affected by the SNAP benefit reductions.
Who can apply
Restaurant and service workers who rely on SNAP and have experienced food insecurity due to benefit reductions.
How to apply
Visit ofwemergencyfund.org/ to submit a brief online form. One Fair Wage organizers will follow up to verify eligibility and distribute relief.
Support includes
• Direct cash assistance for groceries and basic needs;
• Access to food resource partners and local relief efforts; and
• Tools and information to organize for higher wages.
How to help
Donate now
Visit ofwemergencyfund.org/ to make a tax-deductible contribution. Donations go directly to affected workers.
Spread the word
Share this initiative to help reach more workers in need.
Volunteer
Join One Fair Wage’s outreach and relief efforts.
A short-term fix and a long-term solution
During the COVID-19 pandemic, One Fair Wage raised and distributed $25 million in emergency aid to workers who suddenly lost income. The SNAP Emergency Fund is the next step in that mission — a short-term fix for a crisis that should never have happened.
“This shutdown has exposed what’s been true all along,” Jayaraman added. “Food insecurity isn’t caused by a lack of work. It’s caused by a lack of living wages. Until we raise the wage floor in this country, millions of working people will remain just one political fight away from hunger.”
For more information or to apply for relief, applicants should visit: ofwemergencyfund.org.
About One Fair Wage:
One Fair Wage is a national organization comprising nearly 300,000 service workers, more than 1,000 restaurant employers, and numerous organizations dedicated to raising wages for all workers, ending subminimum wages, and improving working conditions in the service sector.
For more information, visit onefairwage.org.
