{"id":369906,"date":"2025-11-10T20:05:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T20:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/369906\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T20:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T20:05:14","slug":"jacksonville-father-of-six-turns-to-food-pantries-and-extra-work-amid-snap-benefit-halt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/369906\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville father of six turns to food pantries and extra work amid SNAP benefit halt"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Since the government shutdown began Oct. 1, many families have faced the sudden loss of SNAP benefits. For Ross Torrence, a father of six in Jacksonville, the November benefits never arrived, forcing him to find new ways to feed his children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been running around food pantry to food pantry. Who\u2019s available? What do they have available?\u201d Torrence said.<\/p>\n

He said pantries are doing everything they can to help, and while it isn\u2019t always a full meal, his family will make it work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids are all six and under, so some of those things could be part of a meal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Torrence works full-time as a manager at Wendy\u2019s, putting in eight to 10-hour shifts. But with SNAP benefits frozen, he has taken on extra work delivering packages, sometimes working up to 18 hours a day to make ends meet. <\/p>\n

RELATED | Jacksonville councilman to request $2M in emergency funding to help those impacted by SNAP benefits disruptions<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Ross Torrence drives to his next delivery during the government shutdown. (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just getting out here day-to-day to try and figure out how best I can have this next meal ready for our kids, whether it\u2019s breakfast lunch and dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without SNAP benefits, Torrence must use his delivery earnings to buy food that would have been covered. He said it\u2019s taking away from other essential supplies like diapers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, I should always be able to have that security to provide for my family, not worrying about where the next meal is gonna come from. It should already be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MORE: <\/b>Lil Duval pays for 35K meals in Jacksonville through Feeding Northeast Florida amid SNAP delays<\/b><\/a> | <\/b><\/p>\n

The uncertainty about when benefits will resume adds to the stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only answer they have for us is, \u2018Hey, we don\u2019t have the funds. We don\u2019t have the benefits. We don\u2019t know when they will come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Torrence remained determined.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but as long as you keep on trying, and you don\u2019t give up. You can get it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Senate has reportedly come to an agreement<\/a> to end the government shutdown. However, that is just the first step. With the clock rolling toward 41 days, when the shutdown will end remains uncertain. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an active parent,\u201d Torrence said. \u201cThere\u2019s many more active parents out there working day today. I still have children to provide for.\u201d<\/p>\n

He encourages others facing hardship to keep pushing forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just gotta keep on going,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t just let it stop us. Every little small delivery at $6 to $10 that matters to me that\u2019s a meal and that\u2019s how I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Since the government shutdown began Oct. 1, many families have faced the sudden loss of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":369907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,49089,7310,6974,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-369906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-government-shutdown","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-snap","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115527203281222352","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}