Why This Matters: WIC in Jeopardy

The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program provides healthy food, formula, and nutrition support to nearly 125,000 pregnant people, infants, and children in Washington State. Without immediate federal funding, WIC faces disruption within days — not weeks. Washington’s Department of Health has stated it has only about 10 days of food funds available to sustain the program. Families who depend on WIC for baby formula, fresh food, and critical support may soon find themselves without access to these essentials.

This is not a partisan issue — it’s about ensuring infants have formula, pregnant people can access proper nutrition, children continue to receive fresh food, and families aren’t left facing greater instability at a moment when they need consistency the most.

But WIC isn’t the only program at risk. SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), which millions of families rely on for basic food security, is vulnerable under a prolonged shutdown as well. According to analyses by FRAC, SNAP beneficiaries should receive their October 2025 payments even if a shutdown occurs, because those funds were obligated in September under existing procedures. However, if the shutdown drags on, contingency funds could be exhausted, and states might struggle to transmit payments or maintain processing. In short: while SNAP payments may be secured in the short term, the risk of delay or interruption rises with the duration of the funding lapse.

Thus, a shutdown threatens a dual blow: immediate disruption to WIC’s day-to-day operations — putting mothers, infants, and young children at severe risk — coupled with the looming jeopardy of SNAP delays, which could compound food insecurity across whole households.

What You Can Do Right Now

Moments like this remind us that the strength of our community rests in compassion and collective action. Here’s how you can help:

• Support your local food bank or EFN. Use EFN’s website to find the pantry nearest you and lend a hand—through donations, volunteering, or spreading the word.

• Donate baby formulas and diapers. These are some of the hardest items for food banks to source. Formula is expensive, heavily regulated, and rarely donated in bulk. Diapers, while essential, are not covered by WIC or SNAP. Your contribution of these items directly relieves families under the most strain.

• Inform your network. Talk with your friends, coworkers, and neighbors about what’s happening. Share resources on how to access food. An informed community is a resilient and democratically empowered one.

• Contact your legislators. Ask them to work across party lines to resolve the shutdown and protect programs like WIC. Every call and email signals that their constituents care deeply about food access.

Together, We Carry Each Other

The shutdown is more than a political standoff—it’s a direct threat to the health and dignity of our neighbors. At EFN, we believe that everyone deserves consistent access to food. With your support, we can weather this moment and continue to ensure that no one in Pierce County goes hungry.