INDIANAPOLIS — From local restaurants to national apps, many companies are stepping in to help people who may not receive their SNAP benefits this month.
For Rockstar Pizza owner Colby Mathews, giving back is the best part of owning a pizza shop.
“It’s the best part of owning a pizza shop,” Mathews said.
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The “pay it forward” board inside the Brownburg restaurant allows customers to buy meals for others in need.
“People can come in and purchase a meal, and we’ll put it up there.”
Mathews said the demand for that board continues to grow, so she’s decided to do even more.
“I was like, 'Nope, we are not going to throw away another slice of pizza, another bread stick,'” Mathews said.
Every day after the pizza buffet closes at 2 p.m., Mathews creates “pizza surprise boxes” with leftovers and posts about them on Facebook. Anyone can come by and pick one up for free.
“It’s not just the SNAP benefits, but the people who aren’t getting paid right now,” Mathews said. “There are people working their full-time jobs and not getting a paycheck and so we will continue to do it until it’s not needed, and that may never happen.”
Apps and national partners are also stepping in to help.
“At DoorDash, we have been tracking the government shutdown and the potential impact to SNAP recipients,” said Daniel Riff, head of government and non-profit operations at DoorDash.
DoorDash, which partners with Gleaners Food Bank, said it’s offering free delivery services in November to help those affected.
“So during this emergency, we will be doing that free of charge in November so that they can get food out to folks who may not be able to come in and access food through traditional means.”
DoorDash will also waive delivery and service fees for grocery orders from participating stores, including BJ’s, Dollar General, and Strack & Van Til.
Another resource for families looking to save on groceries is the Flashfood app, which works with SNAP benefits under any circumstances.
“Essentially, food that is nearing its best buy or in surplus at the store is posted on our marketplace where you can shop it for up to 50% off,” said CEO Jordan Schenck.
The company partners with Meijer and Kroger. In the past week, Flashfood has seen 10 times the usual number of downloads and traffic on its app.
“A lot of the items that come on our platform are meat and produce, so a lot of people are stocking up, said Schenk.
Helping people access affordable, healthy food is what the app was built for.
“It’s what the platform is intended for—to make sure that food that is perfectly good, perfectly healthy, is not landing in the landfill and landing on the plate of families and folks who need it,” said Schenk.
