NEW YORK, NY — The Service Workers SNAP Emergency Fund, unveiled on Monday by One Fair Wage, aims to provide direct cash assistance to restaurant and service industry employees who have been hit hardest by the ongoing reductions. According to the organization, these workers rely on food stamps at twice the rate of other occupations, leaving millions vulnerable to food insecurity as federal aid shrinks.
“This isn’t just a story about food assistance — it’s a story about poverty wages,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage. “The people who feed us can’t afford to feed themselves. Forty-two 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 decision to slash food assistance comes despite two court orders requiring the administration to release full SNAP payments during the shutdown. The cuts, officials said, are part of a “budget prioritization” effort as the standoff over government spending continues. The result has left low-income families and working adults uncertain about how to afford groceries this month.
According to federal data, half of all SNAP recipients are employed, and more than 60 percent of households with children receiving benefits have at least one working adult. One Fair Wage’s research shows that many of these workers are concentrated in the service sector — restaurants, cafes, hotels, and other customer-facing industries that often pay subminimum wages.
Through the new emergency fund, eligible restaurant and service employees who rely on SNAP can apply for one-time cash assistance to cover groceries and essential needs. The fund also connects recipients with local food resource partners and offers tools to help them advocate for higher wages.
Applications are being accepted at ofwemergencyfund.org, where donors can also make tax-deductible contributions or volunteer to support outreach efforts.
“This shutdown has exposed what’s been true all along,” Jayaraman said. “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.”
The group’s new initiative builds on its pandemic-era work, during which One Fair Wage distributed $25 million in emergency aid to service workers who lost income. Leaders say the SNAP fund is both a short-term fix for an immediate crisis and a call to action for states to strengthen wage protections.
One Fair Wage represents nearly 300,000 service workers, more than 1,000 restaurant employers, and dozens of partner organizations nationwide, advocating for the end of subminimum wages and improved working conditions in the service sector.
For more information, visit onefairwage.org.
