In response to the Trump administration’s decision to cut November SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown, the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation has released $25,000 to support food equity programs on the Island.

The donor-raised funds will go to Island Grown Initiative, the Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls Club, the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living and Dukes County to close the food assistance gap left by the loss of SNAP’s discontinuation, which impacts over 1,000 Islanders.

Gov. Maura Healey announced Monday that all Massachusetts SNAP beneficiaries have received funds for November from a state contingency fund. But with The U.S. Department of Agriculture demanding that Massachusetts retract the “unauthorized” payments, and with new SNAP eligibility restrictions on the way, Islanders on SNAP remain in limbo.

Elizabeth Bennett is the Community Foundation’s program manager. She said the funds will give critical support to food access providers, which have been scrambling to respond to increased need this month.

“Normally, our emergency grants are of a smaller size, but given the magnitude of the situation right now, it’s really gratifying to see that the board wanted to get money out to the community right away,” she said.

Ms. Bennett noted that all four beneficiaries provide food equity services in different ways to different populations.

Island Grown operates the Island’s largest food pantry, which feeds one in five Islanders. The Boys and Girls Club serves young Islanders and their caregivers, and the Center for Living serves older Islanders with dementia. Dukes County can use funds to address food insecurity on a more individual basis by providing clients with pre-loaded debit cards for food.

“I’m really happy that the money for food is going to so many different types of people,” she said.

The Community Foundation is part of the Island Food Equity Network, a group of Island organizations committed to addressing food insecurity on the Vineyard. Paul Schulz, executive director of the Community Foundation, said many members of the network are feeling the squeeze of SNAP cuts and rising food insecurity due to other factors.

“Resources are being diminished and the demand is only going up,” Mr. Schulz said. “This emergency grant is also representative of the demand that we’re seeing in the community right now for food security.”

Ms. Bennett added that Island churches are getting requests from individuals to start their seasonal community supper programs, which usually start in January, as soon as possible. She said Grace Episcopal Church is running a modified version of its Friday night dinner program.

“The fact that people are proactively calling those programs... was compelling information for us to have,” she said. “A number of the people who were calling were seniors.”

Courts and states across the country, including Massachusetts, are pushing back against Trump’s SNAP cuts. Two federal judges ordered last week that the administration release SNAP contingency funds to support benefits through the shutdown, and the dispute is now before the Supreme Court.

But for Ms. Bennett and Mr. Schulz, this month’s SNAP cuts are part of a larger, and growing, issue. Tightened eligibility requirements for SNAP and other government programs are imminent under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, meaning food insecurity is likely to continue rising, Mr. Schulz said. Food assistance providers have said the Island’s high cost of living is also a compounding factor.

“Government benefits are really under attack right now,” Mr. Schulz said. “Our emergency funding is buying us time to better understand how things are going to play out.... We don’t feel like it’s going to go away any time soon.”