Editor’s note: (11/3/2025) The Trump administration is set to restart SNAP benefits, funding half of the normal amount through the USDA’s contingency fund, according to a USDA legal filing. The funding does not cover applicants who applied for support in November. The headline and portions of the story have been updated to reflect the change.
Editor’s note: (10/31/2025) According to an update from the Kansas Department for Children and Families, Governor Laura Kelly and 25 states have filed a lawsuit against the USDA to encourage the use of emergency funds to keep SNAP available. On Friday, Oct. 31, a district court told the USDA to come up with a plan to fund SNAP by Monday, Nov. 3.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the U.S. government’s largest anti-hunger program, may not go out in November due to funding challenges from the government shutdown.
Wichita State’s Student Government Association is increasing its funding for campus resources to help support those who depend on SNAP benefits, but those resources won’t be available until Nov. 10 because of a temporary closure of the Shocker Support Locker.
On Oct. 21, the Kansas Department for Children and Families received a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service informing them that there would not be enough money to pay full SNAP benefits for November. The statement also said that the interruption came around the start of the holiday season, which already adds demand on food pantries.
Zach Gearhart, the vice president of government relations at WSU, said in an email to The Sunflower that the university is aware that there could be many students who may be affected.
Gearhart said that students facing food insecurity are encouraged to use campus resources, like the Kiah Duggins Shocker Support Locker — a food pantry for Wichita State students, faculty and staff made to alleviate food insecurity on campus. In addition to food, the locker provides baby and hygiene products along with professional clothing for participants. The resources are free to those who register online.
The locker was recently renamed after Kiah Duggins, a WSU alum and victim of the Flight 5342 collision earlier this year. When Duggins was a student at WSU, she was in SGA and headed the creation of the Shocker Support Locker, then named the Shocker Food Locker.
Wichita State’s solution to food insecurity began when the Student Government Association sent a survey to students in 2015, which reported that 56% of WSU students knew at least one to three students dealing with food insecurity. The survey also reported that 50% of students, including 67% of international students, had skipped a meal because of being unable to afford to eat.
In response to the survey, the Shocker Support Locker began operation in February 2016.
In 2024, the university found that 1,264 people on campus used the Shocker Support Locker, with 3,344 total visits that year.
At the Student Senate’s Oct. 29 meeting, Student Body President Jia Wen Wang announced that SGA leadership has allocated additional funds for the locker for November through the locker’s foundation account.
“I wanted to ensure that students who may have been on SNAP benefits, who need those benefits, are being well taken care of,” Wang said.
Wang said that the locker is there for students who need resources, including those who have uncertainty around their SNAP benefits.
“Please let them (students) know that the Shocker Support Locker is always a resource for them and we are prepared,” Wang told the senate. “Just in case there are a larger volume of students who come to the locker because of these pauses, but we are well prepared to make sure these students are being taken care of.”
In an email to The Sunflower, Wang said that there was not a hard budget on the purchase of additional items, but $3,340 had been spent in the week of Oct. 26 to prepare.
Lauren Madison, the student governance coordinator, said that the locker is prioritizing stocking non-perishable items and meal components for students, but the amount of weekly credits available is remaining at 10 per week in an email to The Sunflower
The Shocker Support Locker will be closed until Monday, Nov. 10, according to a sign on the gate. Madison said in an email that the locker closes every first full week of the month for Food for Fines, an initiative that exchanges donations with parking ticket relief.
