The $1 million Thanksgiving SNAP Bridge Fund is set to open enrollment Wednesday, November 4, 2026, with payments planned on a first-come, first-served basis until the money runs out. Enrollment is through Propel, a smartphone app used by roughly one in four SNAP households to track EBT balances.
The fund comes from a partnership between GiveDirectly, described as a global nonprofit that sends donors' money directly to struggling families, and Propel, the free app used to manage EBT balances. According to Propel, the two organizations are working together to identify impacted families and send cash directly to those in need. Propel says eligible users generally had to have signed up for the app by October 31, received a September SNAP deposit, then missed their October deposit, and used the app on November 1 or 2 to qualify. The program is not available in Louisiana or Iowa, which Propel says were excluded because of data limitations, and the company says data gaps affect eligibility in several other states as well.
Propel says eligible users simply need to open the app to see a banner confirming they qualify, and donations to the campaign are now closed, with distribution set to begin shortly. The company says funds sent through its virtual GiveCard will not be deposited before Monday. It also stresses that accepting the $100 will not jeopardize anyone's existing SNAP benefits.
A One-Time Gift, Not a Replacement for SNAP
Dustin Palmer, executive director of U.S. programs for GiveDirectly, said the $100 payment is not meant to replace SNAP and is intended as a temporary, one-time gift, as reported by Word In Black. Palmer said the fund aims to let recipients buy diet-appropriate or hot foods, including in food deserts, and the outlet reported that the GiveCard payments come with no spending restrictions — families can use the money for food, gasoline, travel expenses, or whatever they need most. Palmer also said a pause in SNAP felt like a crisis a year ago, and he noted that many recipients only discover they've lost benefits when their EBT card turns up empty.
Word In Black's reporting, syndicated locally by the Atlanta Daily World, notes that SNAP participants often face work requirements and reapplication hurdles to stay enrolled, and that some lose benefits after missing mailed notices or calls from blocked numbers. Word In Black is a collaboration of 10 publishers.
Why So Many Families Lost Benefits
The losses stem from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which took effect in July 2025 and expanded SNAP work requirements to older adults up to age 65 and to parents or caregivers of children 14 and older, per the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Propel says more than 5 million people have lost food benefits since the law took effect, including about 2 million children, out of a program that serves roughly 42 million people each month. The budget policy center reports that SNAP participation has fallen unusually steeply nationwide, with participation dropping by 5.5 million people, or 13 percent, between the law's enactment and July 2026, and that in 28 states with available data, 1.5 million fewer children were receiving SNAP as of late October than in July 2025.
The center's tracker also found that Arizona's SNAP participation fell nearly 51 percent from July 2025 to July 2026, narrowing slightly to a 45 percent decline through September 2026 using newer state data. The organization notes that participation declines began before the 2025 law but accelerated afterward in almost all states, and it cites a Congressional Budget Office estimate that the law will cut SNAP by nearly $187 billion through 2034 and remove more than 2.4 million people from the program in a typical month.
Georgia's Outsized Stake in SNAP
Georgia has more riding on these cuts than most states. An average of 1.77 million Georgians received SNAP benefits monthly in fiscal year 2025, or 15.6 percent of the state's population, well above the 12.3 percent national share, according to USAFacts. That ranked Georgia sixth among all states and Washington, D.C., for the share of residents on SNAP, and the state's participation has fallen from a peak of 1.95 million people a month in fiscal year 2013. Separately, WABE reported that SNAP enrollment in Georgia, Louisiana, and Nevada each dropped more than 20 percent over the 12-month period ending in May 2026 amid tightening eligibility requirements.
What the Latest State Data Cover
For state-level participation and benefits data, July 2026 is the latest month available in USDA’s SNAP data tables. That is the current cutoff for monthly state comparisons; the tables do not yet provide a later month.
How This Compares to a Prior Cash Response
This is not GiveDirectly and Propel's first rapid-response campaign tied to SNAP disruptions. During an earlier shutdown, GiveDirectly said it delivered nearly $12 million in $50 emergency payments to 238,153 of the lowest-income SNAP families nationwide in under two weeks, sending each payment within one to two days of a missed deposit, according to GiveDirectly. Fortune reported that campaign ultimately raised $12 million, enrolled more than 246,000 beneficiaries, and drew 5,000 individual donors. That earlier effort involved different payment amounts and circumstances than the current Thanksgiving fund, and GiveDirectly notes it accepts donations year-round through its website, with Palmer hoping the public will continue giving to the new campaign.
GiveDirectly's Broader Track Record
GiveDirectly, founded by economists, has provided international assistance since 2009 and added unconditional cash aid for low-income Americans in 2017. The organization says it has delivered more than $400 million to low-income families in the United States and has supported more than 30 randomized controlled studies, largely of its global programs, which it says have found that direct cash significantly improves families' and local communities' monetary and physical health.
Other Food Resources Available Now
For families not covered by the bridge fund, Word In Black points to other ways to find food assistance. Feeding America's searchable directory lists local food programs, while the FoodFinder app helps users locate free food. Plentiful also lists local resources and can be reached by texting FOOD to 726-879.
