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For information on submitting an obituary, please contact Reading Eagle by phone at 610-371-5018, or email at obituaries@readingeagle.com or fax at 610-371-5193. Most obituaries published in the Reading Eagle are submitted through funeral homes and cremation services, but we will accept submissions from families. Obituaries can be emailed to obituaries@readingeagle.com. In addition to the text of the obituary, any photographs that you wish to include can be attached to this email. Please put the text of the obituary in a Word document, a Google document or in the body of the email. The Reading Eagle also requires a way to verify the death, so please include either the phone number of the funeral home or cremation service that is in charge of the deceased's care or a photo of his/her death certificate. We also request that your full name, phone number and address are all included in this email. All payments by families must be made with a credit card. We will send a proof of the completed obituary before we require payment. The obituary cannot run, however, until we receive payment in full. Obituaries can be submitted for any future date, but they must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. the day prior to its running for it to be published. Please call the obituary desk, at 610-371-5018, for information on pricing. PITTSTON TWP. — Gov. Josh Shapiro visited a Luzerne County food bank Thursday to sound the alarm about cuts to food-stamp benefits amidst the federal government shutdown, warning of a crisis that could leave millions of Pennsylvanians going hungry. Meeting with several charity organizers and members of the General Assembly at the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank, Shapiro spoke about the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, and what he said were his administration’s efforts to combat them. “I think it’s cold hearted, and by the way, it’s not the Pennsylvania way,” Shapiro said about the benefits freeze. “Here in Pennsylvania, we give a damn about neighbors. We try to feed them, we try to take care of them.” Shapiro noted how crucial SNAP benefits were in the Keystone State. Around 1.9 million Pennsylvanians, or about 14.9% of the state population, collect SNAP benefits, including approximately 714,000 children and 697,000 seniors, according to statistics from the state Department of Human Services. To deliver these benefits, the U.S. Department of Agriculture delivers $366 million per month in SNAP benefits to Pennsylvania, or around $4.4 billion per year. State Rep. Jim Haddock, D-118, Pittston Twp., noted that Luzerne County was particularly reliant on SNAP benefits. Twenty-one percent of Luzerne County residents receive SNAP benefits, a proportion exceeded only by those of Fayette County and Philadelphia. During his speech, Haddock discussed a man whose wife had dementia and now was rationing money for his food budget. “This guy and his wife worked hard their whole lives,” Haddock said. “And now they’re struggling…this is for real.” “Some people out there think, they’re just using our tax money (for SNAP), giving it to people that don’t work, giving it to people that are lazy,” added state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, Wilkes-Barre, the chair of the state House agriculture committee. “That’s not true.” The USDA notified the states in October that due to the federal shutdown, it would have insufficient funds to distribute November SNAP benefits. Shapiro joined with 22 states, two other governors, and Washington D.C. to sue the USDA over the benefits freeze. They argued the USDA was obligated to use its $6 billion SNAP contingency fund, to at least partially fund SNAP benefits. The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled in favor of Shapiro and his co-plaintiffs on Tuesday, requiring the USDA to fund SNAP at 50% of its normal level. On Wednesday, it raised that figure to 65%. Even with the court victory, there are other obstacles to delivering aid. In a letter to the USDA, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Valerie Arkoosh has argued the USDA is taking an overly bureaucratic path in restoring SNAP benefits that could delay delivery by at least 19 to 22 business days. She and Shapiro have demanded federal officials use other procedures to accelerate benefit delivery. “I think we should be doing everything in our power right now to feed hungry Pennsylvanians,” Shapiro said. “The Trump administration has made it harder every single step of the way.” Weinberg Northeast CEO Jennifer Warabak also spoke to the scope of the crisis. She said the effects of the delayed SNAP benefits are already readily apparent, with food banks like Weinberg Northeast experiencing an “unprecedented surge in demand” as the mass of people facing food insecurity grows. “The pressure on food banks is mounting, with increased need against a backdrop of dwindling supplies,” Warabak said. With the delay in federal funding, the governor issued an emergency declaration to deliver $5 million to Feeding Pennsylvania, a coalition of state affiliates of Feeding America. He has also secured $2 million in private funding for a “SNAP Emergency Relief Fund” collecting donations from figures including billionaires Mark Cuban and David Adelman. Shapiro urged the public to volunteer to assist their local food banks in whatever way they can. “I think it is a sign of just how compassionate people are in this commonwealth,” Shapiro said. While saying the emergency state support and charitable donations were “vital,” Warabak said there was no substitute for the hundreds of millions of dollars in SNAP funds the USDA is currently withholding. “The charitable food system is not and cannot be a substitute for SNAP benefits,” Warabak said. “Lasting food security requires strong public programs that work as intended.” Looming Crisis While the federal-government shutdown presents an immediate danger to SNAP benefits, there are more changes ahead that Democrats have also argued risk spreading hunger throughout Pennsylvania. The One Big Beautiful Bill legislation President Donald Trump signed into law in July creates new work requirements for SNAP, along with new state-matching fund regulations projects 143,968 Pennsylvanians will lose SNAP benefits due to the new work requirements, including 5,517 and 3,565 in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, respectively. Shapiro took aim at Republicans in Congress, specifically alluding to U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., for his vote in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill and effects it will have on Medicaid and SNAP beneficiaries. Bresnahan has argued the legislation makes SNAP and other programs more fair and that work requirements include various exemptions for families and children. The Shapiro administration has countered that 55% of people who lost SNAP benefits due to work requirements introduced in 2016 had a chronic medical condition and around a quarter had nutrition-deficiency conditions, like diabetes. (Notably, households with children ages 15 or older are generally not covered by SNAP work-requirement exemptions.) “Your congressman, from this district, voted to cut 510,000 Pennsylvanians off of their health care and at the same time voted to cut about 140,000 Pennsylvanians off of SNAP,” Shapiro said. “I think it’s shameful.” Shapiro ended the conference making a pitch for the midterms, implying only Democratic control of Congress could see cuts restored. He said the success of Democrats in Northeastern Pennsylvania and across the country this past Tuesday left him feeling optimistic about that prospect. “Hopefully, you will see a new Congress come and reverse those cuts going forward,” Shapiro said. “And if Tuesday night is any indication, I think you’re going to see a lot of change going forward here….”
