The leader of the region's largest hunger-relief charity told state lawmakers last week that charities cannot take the place of federal food aid, as Texas begins paying a larger part of the cost of running the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Theresa Mangapora, who runs the food bank, was in Austin on Tuesday, Sept. 29, for Hunger Action Day, an advocacy event at the Capitol organized with Feeding Texas and other food banks, KBTX reported. She said demand at her organization is the highest she has seen in more than two decades leading it.
"Right now, we are feeding more people, distributing more food, and more frequently than we ever have in the history of the time I've been at the food bank," Mangapora told KBTX.
What changed Oct. 1
Since Oct. 1, under the federal budget law passed in 2025, the state pays 75% of the program's administrative expenses instead of half. Feeding Texas CEO Celia Cole put the added cost at about $117 million a year, a figure that matches the estimate the Texas Health and Human Services Commission gave state senators in April, according to the Texas Tribune.
A larger bill could follow in 2027. States whose SNAP payment error rate is above 6% will have to pay part of the benefits themselves. Almost 9% of Texas SNAP payments had an error, and HHSC told lawmakers Texas could owe about $709 million in 2027, the Tribune reported. An error can be an overpayment or an underpayment and does not necessarily mean fraud.
Food banks and the state
By Feeding Texas' count, SNAP supplies nine meals for each meal a food bank hands out. "If I wanted to capture the impact that SNAP makes, I would need to amplify my operations by nine times," Mangapora said. "We don't have those resources in the Brazos Valley."
"Food banks are a safety net, but we're not the real safety net," she said. "The safety net is the SNAP program." Her message to legislators: "Please make sure that you fund the program."
HHSC Executive Commissioner Stephanie Muth told senators in April that the agency is working to lower the error rate through technology changes, better staff training, worker aids and more reviews before benefits are approved, High Plains Public Radio reported. "The takeaway is really there's not quick fixes," Muth said.
