When Michigan mother Lyric Brown heard rumors going around that people weren't going to receive their SNAP benefits in November, she didn’t believe it at first.
Brown and her family, like 1.47 million other Michiganders, receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Benefits Program (SNAP). It's the federal government's largest "anti-hunger" program.
With two children at home, Brown turned to the Internet. After verifying the rumors were true, she still wasn't worried, and figured the shutdown would be resolved soon.
“I was thinking 'Well, it's not going to affect me, it's not going to affect anybody' to be honest because the government’s been shut down before and they never did this—they never paused the food stamps,” Brown said.
But as time went on, she realized things were more serious and began to get scared. Brown has a seven-year-old son and a two-month old daughter. She receives WIC for her infant daughter, but the amount she receives doesn’t cover the amount her daughter drinks–which is over 13 cans of milk a month.
WIC provides up to nine cans of milk for an infant aged 0-12 months old.
“I need the food stamps in order to feed her, feed my son, and make sure she has enough formula to last her until the end of the month,” she said.
Brown said she would be missing out on nearly $1,000 a month. The thought of being unable to feed her children and put food on the table was unimaginable, she said.
For years, Brown worked at Amazon until she found out she was pregnant with her daughter. Her pregnancy was high-risk, and was told by doctors she had preeclampsia–a serious complication that causes persistent high blood pressure and other health issues for the mother and baby.
That put the family in a position where they had to rely on her boyfriend's income and SNAP.
“I couldn't work,” she said. So that really put us back to it. We really started depending more on our food stamps.”
When the news broke on November 6 that SNAP benefits were resuming in the state, she said it was a huge relief.
“Honestly, at first, I didn't believe it because of all the stuff that was going around with it, she said. “But checking the sources and seeing that it was real—I was extremely happy.”
Brown is a member of a community Facebook group where she and others in the state share information about missing SNAP benefits and offer each other support.
"We're going to get through it," she said. "I strongly believe we're going to get through it."
One day after the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced full SNAP benefit payments would resume in the state, the Supreme Court issued an emergency court order to block the payments.
Then, on Monday, November 10, the MDHHS released another statement that ordered the resumption of issuing full SNAP benefits.
“I'm not used to depending on anyone at all, especially the government," Brown said. "If I can't depend on my family, I'm not going to depend on the government. I have to do stuff myself.”
Brown said her plan is to return to work once her daughter is three months old. She encourages other mothers and families with children who need help to reach out.
“I was one of those people who wanted to go anonymous so badly because I didn't want people to be like ‘Oh you know you shouldn't depend on…’ but at the end of the day if it's about my kids I'm going to speak up,” Brown said.
The government shutdown could end as soon as this week as the House votes on a deal to reopen the government.