Summary:
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Sophie Rain announced an initiative to help families with grocery bills amidst the SNAP program crisis.
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Due to a government shutdown, SNAP faced a crisis, but legal intervention required emergency reserves to continue funding.
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Despite the legal intervention, benefits for 42 million people remain uncertain amid the ongoing appeals process, causing fresh uncertainty.
In the midst of a politicized funding freeze that has put the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in limbo, social‑media creator Sophie Rain has announced a personal initiative to help families struggling with grocery bills.
Rain, a 21‑year‑old Florida‑based content creator who has built a large following via platforms including TikTok and OnlyFans, posted a video this week:
In her post, she asked viewers to drop a payment method (Cash App, Venmo or PayPal) and said she would “be paying for people’s groceries this week.”
On Oct. 1, 2025, the U.S. federal government entered a shutdown after Congress failed to pass a funding resolution for the fiscal year. The SNAP program — which serves roughly 42 million Americans each month — faced an immediate crisis: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) warned that without further appropriations, full benefits for November could not be paid. Legal intervention followed.
On Oct. 31, federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled that the government must continue funding SNAP using emergency reserves. But the delivery of those benefits has been patchy. For example, in Texas, some recipients received only about 65 % of their usual allotment on Nov. 10. According to Reuters, benefits for 42 million people remain uncertain amid the appeals process.
In a memo published Nov. 9, the USDA instructed states to “undo any steps taken” to issue full SNAP benefits for November—raising fresh uncertainty.
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