Dear Neighbors, Friends, and Fellow New Yorkers,

As we face the uncertainty of the 2025 government shutdown, thousands of families across our state are bracing for the unimaginable: the sudden loss of SNAP benefits that help put food on the table. For many, this isn’t just a policy issue—it’s a matter of survival.

In Syracuse and across New York, we’ve seen firsthand how food insecurity affects our children, elders, and working families. We’ve also seen the power of community—how food pantries, mutual aid, and grassroots giveaways can nourish not just bodies, but hope. We know what it looks like when neighbors show up for each other. We know what it means to feed one another with dignity.

But this moment demands more than generosity. It demands action.

That’s why I’m calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to take immediate and bold steps to protect our most vulnerable.

 

We urge the state to:

• Allocate emergency funding for food pantries so they can meet the rising demand with dignity and care.
• Fight for access to funding for SNAP benefits so no one is left behind during this shutdown.
• Support local food distribution efforts for all families impacted by the SNAP shutdown.
• Distribute $1,500 emergency food checks—first to all NYS SNAP and SSA recipients, then to every household in need across the state.

 

This is not a moment for silence. It’s a moment for solidarity.

By signing this petition, you are standing with families who are doing everything right but are being left behind by a broken system. You are telling Albany that no child, adult, family, or individual in New York should go to bed hungry—not now, not ever.

 

We are not asking for charity, We are demanding justice.

We are not waiting for rescue, We are organizing for relief.

We are not powerless, We are powerful—together.

 

Let’s make our voices impossible to ignore,

Let’s show what a state of compassion looks like,

Let’s remind our leaders that food is not a privilege,

It is a human right.

 

With gratitude and resolve,

Jacob Conners

Organizer, Advocate, Neighbor