Inside a packed waiting room at the Sahuarita Food Bank off Interstate-19, people listen for their name to be called. They don’t need to provide proof, but clients are expected to be below 185% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that’s an income of around $60,000 or less per year.
The U.S.’s war with Iran and the lasting effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs have pushed the price of groceries higher for Arizona families. That’s visible in the waiting rooms of food banks and free markets and in lines at the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
The increased demand for affordable groceries is something that DES has failed to meet, having cut off more than half of the people who relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program last summer.
When a client is called in at the Sahuarita Food Bank, a volunteer hands them a cart which they can fill with a limited quantity of bread, produce, dairy and meats; the quantity is based on their family size. Clients are allowed to pick up food once every two weeks.
Carlos Valles is the Sahuarita Food Bank’s executive director. He said January was the busiest month the food bank had been in two years, with more than 8,000 people walking through its doors. That’s a 17% increase from the same time last year, Valles said.
“We are hearing — well, I should say we’re listening to the stories — and the thing is they’re like ‘What do we do?’ And I’m like I wish I had that wand or I wish I had an eight ball or a globe or something I could tell the future. But for today, come in, we will serve you. We have plenty of food thankfully,” he said.
Since the Trump-championed One Big Beautiful Bill Act enforced new work eligibility requirements for SNAP last summer, the per-person caseload in Arizona dwindled from 909,000 to 435,000 people. Last July, that totaled $162 million in benefits and this April, only $73 million, according to DES Statistical Bulletins.
The Department of Economic Security was unable to comment on that by phone despite AZPM’s request. In an emailed statement, spokesperson Brett Bezio explained that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has impacted the SNAP caseload because of the stricter eligibility requirements and because it shifted more administrative costs onto states.
While the food bank’s client intake ebbs and flows, Valles said people have shared stories about the difficulty of applying for SNAP and, on top of that, about rent increases and higher health insurance deductibles which add to the list of household expenses.
Valles said that even the food bank saw few clients in April than in January, February and March, the intake is high than last year's. May, so far, is trending busier than the last few months, he said.
Penny Pestle has been involved with the Sahuarita nonprofit since she was a volunteer in 2013. Back then, the project was housed inside of the church next door .
“We had two clients a week, two families a week, and the program was in a closet,” she said, laughing.
Today, Pestle serves as a board member, writing grants for the food bank and initiating outreach. She said it's become more of a food bank-plus in recent years, opening a family resource center with children’s classes; vocational training programs for things like welding and IT support; and weekly food distribution to almost 700 students on free and reduced lunch.
“Our goal is to try to reduce the number of people who need our help,” Pestle said.
But the need for all those programs, she said, has only increased.
Matt Clauer is the logistics director at the Gap Ministries ‘05 Market in Tucson. The warehouse market is open six days a week, and people can select free foods or purchase reduced price groceries and goods once a day.
“We see people that are just trying to get as much as they can, saying ‘Oh, what I get today is not even close to enough to feeding my family,’” he said.
Clauer said the intake at the warehouse has steadily grown by about 100 people every quarter. Today, around 700 people walk through each day and 100,000 pounds of produce are distributed every week.
“We used to have non-profit food partners. We had 50 of them that would come and help us get rid of 100,000 pounds of produce,” Clauer said. “But because it's grown so much in the last two years, I actually don't give anything to the food partners anymore and it all goes to individuals right now.”
Other nonprofit food providers are Interfaith Community Services and the Tucson Food Share.
Bezio with DES wrote the agency is aiming to lower its payment error rate below the federally required 6%, an effort than has also impacted the Arizona SNAP caseload.
He added that Gov. Katie Hobbs’ executive budget for next year proposes a $48.4 million funding boost that could update the agency’s ‘80s-era technology system and would add more full time positions for “maintaining federal quality standards.”
