SNAP food insecurity puzzle filled by Some Other Place

The holiday season often brings increased community need, but the loss of SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown has strengthened that need even more. For people searching for help, Some Other Place offers multiple programs, including some for those struggling with the loss of food stamps or providing for the holiday. 

Some Other Place has served the Beaumont community since its founding in 1968.

“Three churches came together and said, ‘We keep telling these people to go somewhere else —  we need to make somewhere else,’” Kaitlyn McCarter, special programs and outreach director, said. “So, they got together and created the basis for it.”

Some Other Place offers multiple programs, each with a different focus, including the Thanksgiving Day store, the Giving Tree, a back-to-school program, rent and utility assistance, a food pantry, a clothing store, a soup kitchen, Meals on Wheels and Henry’s Place, the homeless day center.

“I think that Some Other Place is synonymous with homelessness here in Beaumont, and that’s only one of our programs,” Chris Robertson, president and CEO, said. “Some Other Place is not a homeless agency. It’s just an agency with a homeless program.”

Robertson graduated from Lamar University in 2016 with a degree in social work. 

“Some Other Place was one of the places that I was looking at when I came out of college,” he said. “When you have a national corporation you’re locked into an existing structure. I think one of (Some Other Place’s) best qualities is that we are like the jigsaw piece, as far as we help with what the needs are in the community — that doesn’t always stay the same.” 

Earlier this month, the government shutdown led to a loss of access to SNAP benefits. In Texas, 3.5 million people lost their food stamps, according to everytexan.org. Robertson said 40,000 people in Jefferson County rely on SNAP benefits, and Some Other Place worked to fill in the gaps. 

“Some Other Place is kind of a well-known name in the community,” he said. “So, when the SNAP benefits were cut, anybody who wasn’t going to get food assistance came here to our food pantry the first day of the cuts. We had 31 families who came in that day for the food pantry. So, that night, I went to HEB and replaced everything that the 31 families bought, and it was back in action the next morning.”

Robertson said there was a struggle to get news coverage before people were made aware that they were losing benefits. However, he did finally get the story out and informed people that Some Other Place would help if they got a denial letter or lost access to SNAP.

“I think people were scared that they weren’t going to be able to make it,” he said. “I’ve seen a bunch of people who are low income and used to being poor (that), just to put it bluntly, can stretch a budget like you wouldn’t believe. But that’s dependent upon food stamps. If you take that away, they can’t do anything.”

Robertson said that no matter the community, everybody has struggles.

“Some Other Place is Beaumont specific,” he said. “The programs that we offer are a direct reflection of the biggest needs in the community.

“I think it’s kind of like a perfect jigsaw puzzle piece. We literally were formed to help those with what they need most in this town.”

Full time Some Other Place employees are not the only ones who help the community. They are always looking for volunteers during their business hours, and that need increases during the holiday season with their Thanksgiving and Christmas programs, McCarter said. 

“During the holiday season we have a lot of need — helping with our Thanksgiving store, sorting canned goods and bringing donations, as both Thanksgiving and Christmas are solely run off of donations,” McCarter said. “Without people donating and bringing that here, none of these programs happen. 

“But when these donations happen, they have to be organized and sorted, especially with Christmas. We have 1,300 kids that each get two presents. So, we’ll have 2,600 presents to sort and organize, so we’ll need volunteers helping.”

For those looking for a specific date to volunteer, distribution days are already set.

“All our distributions happen on one day,” McCarter said. “So, when the day of distribution comes, somebody can come in and say, ‘Oh, I’m here with the last name Jones.’ We pick up the Jones bag and they’re in and out the door.”

Thanksgiving distributions are set for Nov. 25, and Christmas distribution is set for Dec. 19. Alongside those dates, Dec. 12 is always busy and is a good day to volunteer, McCarter said, as that is when Christmas gifts are due. 

To help purchase Christmas gifts, gift tags are available at 1240 McFaddin Ave. during business hours, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Thursday.

“The younger generation doesn’t support charity the same way the old one did,” Robertson said. “That’s a dying quality. So, I would encourage people to get involved. If we don’t continue to get support from the community, we won’t exist anymore. That’s a very real thing for a shop local nonprofit, and with how many people depend on us, I think it’s worth getting involved and trying to get this younger generation to support charity.”

Prospective volunteers can fill out an online application at someotherplacebeaumont.com/volunteer-at-some-other-place, or visit the facility in person.