We will be providing updates to this page as they become available.

• Need help? Our food pantry is open five days during the week to all residents of Dane County. Learn more here about how and when you can access food now.
• Want to help? You can help meet the surge in food demand in our community while SNAP benefits are delayed by making a financial donation today. You can also join the community-wide food drive. The City of Middleton, Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District, Middleton Chamber of Commerce, and Downtown Middleton Business Association are partnering to make sure our neighbors don’t go without food while we wait for the federal government to restore SNAP benefits. Learn More >

WayForward in the News
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Updated 11/14/25
Thank You, Community, for Your Response!

Thanks to the amazing response of our community, we were able to continue to have food available for our neighbors throughout the difficult last couple of weeks. Between October 21 and November 8, our community collected and donated 39,418 pounds of food to the WayForward Resources food pantry. During the same time period, our pantry distributed nearly one and a half times as much food as we did during the same period last year. Just last Thursday, we gave out nearly 13,000 pounds of food – the highest amount in a single day this year. The uncertainty created by the SNAP benefit delay also led to 171 new households signing up to use the food pantry for the first time.

As we look to the future, there is still a lot of uncertainty. Many of the people who visit our food pantry remain nervous. Having recently lost access to food so suddenly, they worry about the reliability of the benefits in the future. Under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” 90,000 Wisconsinites are at risk of losing SNAP benefits in 2026. This would lead to increases in demand at food pantries. There is also uncertainty around TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) food, which accounts for approximately 10% of our food at WayForward, being delayed in the months ahead due to a pause in the process created by the government shutdown.

Even before the SNAP benefit delay, WayForward was experiencing record-high demand for food at our pantry, with four times as many visits as we had just four years ago. Some of the causes for these increases are population growth in our area, higher food prices, and rising housing costs (rent has increased 47% in the past five years). Because people have to put more of their limited dollars toward rent, they have little left over for other basic necessities, and so are depending on food pantries to fill the gap. Our housing programs are also feeling increased pressure. In October, WayForward experienced our highest demand for emergency housing assistance ever. All of this means that, while we are thrilled that SNAP benefits have been restored, we remain concerned about the future.

What the last few weeks have shown us, though, is that as a community, we can make it through hard times together. We were able to continue providing food through the SNAP delay thanks to the support of our community, and we believe that together, we can create stability in our community, even in the midst of uncertainty around us.

Updated 11/7/25

The past two weeks have been like no other weeks in WayForward’s history. It has been a time of uncertainty and constantly changing news, of fear, and great need in our community — and of incredible support from our community for neighbors facing food insecurity. Thank you for your response over the past couple of weeks.

We are relieved that Gov. Evers announced late last night that his administration has immediately moved to pay full November payments for all Wisconsin FoodShare members after a federal court ordered the Trump administration to stop withholding SNAP payments to states and directed the administration to use billions of dollars in readily available federal funding to provide food assistance payments to millions of Americans. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services posted this morning that full November FoodShare benefits are now available on QUEST cards.

We hope that with this step, we have avoided a potential humanitarian crisis–at least for this moment. There is still fear and uncertainty for people using our pantry because of the continued federal shutdown and no backup SNAP plan for December. Your support will remain important as we continue to wait for the federal government to open and fully restore SNAP benefits. It will also be important in the months ahead. Over the past several years, WayForward Resources and food pantries across Dane County have seen ever-rising numbers of visits, with the highest demand in our over 45-year history. With housing and grocery prices rising, wages not keeping up, and significant SNAP cuts on the horizon due to the “Big Beautiful Bill,” we expect high demand to continue. We appreciate the amazing response of the community over the last several weeks. Your partnership has been critical in sustaining our work of creating food security during a very challenging moment. We know that we can face what lies ahead together and that together we can ensure our neighbors don’t experience hunger in the months to come.

Updated 11/5/25

Thank you community for your response so far! As the SNAP delays continue, your support is vital now and in the weeks to come in sustaining people in our community who need food now. Yesterday alone, we gave out over 10,000 pounds of food. We are consistently seeing some of our highest days of demand. We are also seeing many new people registering to use the food pantry for the first time.

We are temporarily pausing donations to our Clothing Center until December 1. While we appreciate these donations, our staff and volunteers need to fully focus on food distribution. We have also reached our capacity to store clothing that can’t go out on the Clothing Center floor because we need to ensure we have enough room in the warehouse for food donations. Our Clothing Center will continue to be open for people in the community.

We have been told recently that the $4.6 billion in contingency funding could take weeks to be released and go out to people in our community. Here at WayForward, we are bracing for the possibility of a more long-term disruption. Your support is essential in helping us continue to be a stopgap while we wait for SNAP benefits to be restored.

Press Release | November 4, 2025
Delayed SNAP Benefits Cause Significant Increases in Demand at Area Food Pantries

Updated 11/3/25
SNAP benefits lapsed on November 1.

A federal judge ordered on Friday that the Trump administration must release the $5 billion contingency fund to pay SNAP benefits while the federal government is shut down. The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of states including Wisconsin. At this point, the timeline of when these funds will be available is unclear. The contingency funds won’t cover an entire month of SNAP benefits although their release will make a significant difference in easing pressure on food pantries.

Wisconsin Gov. Evers has declared a state of emergency as the shutdown continues.

Follow Wisconsin Department of Heath’s website for specific information about Wisconsin FoodShare (the name of Wisconsin’s SNAP program) program.

Updated 10/27/25

What’s Happening With SNAP Benefits

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has shared that due to the federal government shutdown, November FoodShare benefits will be delayed. FoodShare is Wisconsin’s name for the federally funded SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) program, America’s largest anti-hunger program which includes monthly government benefits to low-income households to help them purchase food. It is 100% federally funded. In Dane County, 64,473 people received SNAP benefits in 2024. Letters were mailed to current SNAP recipients on October 22 letting them know of this issue. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is encouraging SNAP recipients to learn about other sources of food in their area–sources like WayForward’s food pantry.

While WayForward will do everything we can to provide people access to food and bridge the gap (see more on this below), we want to be clear: pantries like WayForward Resources are not and cannot be the solution to this problem. For every one meal provided through a Feeding America food bank or food pantry, SNAP provides nine. And food pantries are already stretched thin. WayForward, one of the largest food pantries in Dane County, served 15,000 people last year, the most ever in our history. We have four times as many visits as we did just four years ago and are purchasing six times as much food. This amount of growth in demand is already challenging. While we can serve as an emergency stopgap, food pantries alone can’t solve this problem.

The only real solution to the current situation must come through the federal government. Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, stated on October 24: “The resources available through the USDA, like funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), are invaluable to our neighbors across the country, and we implore Secretary Rollins and federal leaders to use all available avenues to protect families impacted by the ongoing shutdown, without delay.” This is referencing $5 billion in contingency funding that many policy experts believe could be released immediately to cover SNAP benefits. Feeding America also stated, “Food is foundational for all of us, and for each of us, and politics should not separate people from the food that they need to thrive.”

WayForward experienced an over 75% increase in demand last Friday alone. Although benefits have not yet been delayed, SNAP recipients are nervous and are starting to stock up on food in preparation. Guests have told WayForward volunteers that they are preparing to eat less, skip meals and get more food from WayForward to make it through.

What WayForward is doing:
WayForward Resources will do everything we can to provide food to people facing food insecurity and hunger in our community. Creating stability has always been our mission and during this time of incredible instability we continue to be committed to fulfilling our mission. We are following the situation closely and exploring all avenues to respond including securing additional resources. We will remain open five days a week with food on our shelves. We will also continue our every-other-week delivery program for all enrolled households.

We are increasing the amount of food we are purchasing and are identifying creative ways to store this additional food. We are increasing staff presence in the food pantry to provide additional support to volunteers. We are also exploring additional ways to make basic food available to people who need it.

What you can do:
With your support, we can bridge a gap and provide basic food. Make a donation today to help us provide basic food for people in our community. You can see our list of food the pantry accepts here with our top 10 list here or purchase food items online here. Because of the urgency and condensed timeline of this situation, financial donations are most appreciated right now because they allow us to focus spending on most needed items.

More critically, we all need to advocate for restored federal funding for SNAP. Only federal government support can provide the long-term solution to this problem.

We are in this together.

WAYFORWARD IN THE NEWS

City Cast Madison | November 13, 2025
How Madison Food Pantries are Weathering a Storm of Uncertainty

Channel 3000 (News 3 Now) | November 7, 2025
SNAP benefits released to Wisconsin before Supreme Court block

Press Release | November 4, 2025
Delayed SNAP Benefits Cause Significant Increases in Demand at Area Food Pantries

Isthmus | November 4, 2025
With FoodShare benefits delayed, Madison food pantries seeking donations of money, food, time

WMTV 15 News | October 30, 2025
WayForward Resources gives insight into growing concerns about FoodShare benefits

Wisconsin State Journal | October 30, 2025
Southern Wisconsin food pantries brace for more visits if SNAP benefits are paused

Wisconsin State Journal | October 28, 2025
Wisconsin food pantries cannot replace federal SNAP benefits

Channel 3000 (News 3 Now) | October 24, 2025
Local food pantries brace for food stamp delay

WMTV 15 News (Now at 10) | October 24, 2025
Madison nonprofits concerned as SNAP benefits may be delayed with government shutdown

City Cast Madison | October 24, 2025
Snap Benefits in Peril