With summer break around the corner, many School of the Art Institute of Chicago students have internships or summer projects lined up, but summer break for many households, especially those with school-age children, rely more heavily on food pantries.
According to the Chicago Food Depository, “Many students who don’t get enough food in the summer experience a ‘summer slide’ in their educational level, often returning to school up to two months behind in reading.”
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits stay the same even when children lose access to free meal programs at school.
When a federal government shutdown disrupted food stamp benefits in late 2025, thousands of Illinois residents – including students at SAIC – suddenly found themselves without reliable access to food. By the second week of November 2025, Illinois residents had received only half of their SNAP benefits.
“Before I got on food stamps my freshman year at SAIC, I was facing a lot of food insecurity. I wasn’t making enough money to pay for housing and also food, and I wasn’t aware of Spoonful. SNAP has been a reliable way to feed myself since,” said a student who asked to remain anonymous, and will be referred to throughout this article as M.
Spoonful is SAIC’s student-run food pantry. M said they weren’t made aware of Spoonful until the end of their sophomore year. According to Spoonful, food kit requests in the month of November increased by 61%, over double, while the number of students served increased by 38%. When the government failed, communities were forced to pick up the slack.
SAIC students experiencing food or housing insecurity can fill out SAIC’s food pantry form with Spoonful, or contact The Office of Student Affairs at [email protected] or 312-629-6800. The Getting & Giving Help page lists some resources outside of SAIC.
The Pilsen Food Pantry was one local food pantry affected by the government shutdown.
“We keep track of first-time visitors and as of last week we’re looking at over 400% increase in a single week,” said Steve Wiley, the pantry’s manager in November 2025.
The Pilsen Food Pantry distributes about two million pounds of food in a normal year. Although non-perishables and volunteers are more than welcome, Wiley said the best way to help is through cash donations. He said $8 supports one pantry visit, distributing over 60 pounds of food to a family.
“We spend over $3,000 every week on produce alone from wholesalers which is much cheaper than grocery stores. As soon as SNAP ran out those numbers increased immediately,” Wiley said.
Since November, the U.S. has experienced two more government shutdowns. Although food stamps haven’t been affected by these most recent shutdowns, the possible threat looms.
M suggested that SAIC support students through free meals for students with SNAP cards.
“As someone who’s been directly affected by this stressful time, that would have been super meaningful for me and I know it would be meaningful to other students facing the same thing,” said M.
With roughly 60% to 80% of SAIC students coming from out-of-state, many are trying to find their place in Chicago. Beyond showing up to friend’s exhibitions, integrating oneself into the city can also mean showing up for the community.
M said they have felt alienated at SAIC. “I think this is a school that doesn’t consider the demographic of students that totally exist but is lower class and working class. If you’re willing to put that person’s picture on Instagram but not give them a sandwich, what are you really doing?”
SAIC’s First-Generation program is offered to students whose parents did not complete a four-year college degree. With nearly 20% of students at SAIC identifying themselves as First-Generation, disproportionately 54% of First-Generation college students identify as a racial or ethnic minority. The First-Generation program promises on-campus support.
M said that many don’t understand that being an ally means advocating in real ways.
“It’s a real thing to say this shouldn’t be happening, but it’s also a real thing to say you need to feed these people, because disproportionately people who are going to be affected by food insecurity are going to be people of color. The First-Generation. program highlights that,” said M.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” was signed in July 2025 and includes plans to cut SNAP funding by at least 20%. This act has already gone into effect, with Arizona seeing a 47% drop in SNAP participation due to less staffing and higher amounts of paperwork. Arizona is proving to be an early warning sign.
According to the Department of Economic Security, “Illinois is now requiring most households to recertify their eligibility twice as often. Recertification is one of the top causes of ‘churn,’ when a household is cut off from SNAP but reenrolls within a few months — indicating they went without food assistance for paperwork reasons, despite being eligible.”
As Wiley put it, “Healthy food is like medicine.”
