Wednesday, October 29, 2025 – The Menu: SNAP runs out, Alaska traditional relief foods

Federal food assistance is set to stop November 1 if lawmakers are unable to solve the government shutdown. That means the supply of food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to low-income Native Americans will begin running out without help from alternative sources. Some tribes are putting funds and other efforts toward filling the sudden gap. At least one tribe is culling their own buffalo herds to provide meat for hungry citizens. We’ll get an overview of the situation for Native residents who rely on SNAP.

We’ll also hear about the lengths to which Alaska Native organizations are working to provide traditional foods to the people displaced by major storms on the state’s west coast.

GUESTS

Carly Griffith-Hotvedt (Cherokee), executive director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative

Lyle Rutherford (Blackfeet), Blackfeet Tribal Councilman

Kelsey Ciugun Wallace (Yup’ik and Irish), president and CEO of the Alaska Native Heritage Center

 

Break 1 Music: Prayer Song (song) Salish Spirit Canoe Family (artist) Keep Singing, Keep Dancing (album)

Break 2 Music: Halloween (song) Blood Dance (artist) Halloween (album)