Ocean State Food Pantry Opens At 211 Buttonwoods Ave.

[CREDIT: Ocean State Food Pantry] An affordable community market, Ocean State Food Pantry, opens at 211 Buttonwoods Ave. Thursday.[CREDIT: Ocean State Food Pantry] Ocean State Food Pantry, opens at 211 Buttonwoods Ave. Thursday.WARWICK, RI — Warwick working families who don’t meet income requirements to shop at food pantries, squeezed by the 2025 Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have a place to turn as Ocean State Food Pantry opens at 211 Buttonwoods Ave. Thursday.

Ocean State Food Pantry, a ministry of Legacy Church, and FeedRI are partnering to open the affordable community market as Republican policy and inflation fanned by President Trump’s Iran War make it increasingly difficult for local families to afford enough food.

In 2024, about 13,400, or 18 percent of  Kent County’s 73,000 households, participated in the SNAP program, according to the Economic Progress Institute. About 6,800 of those households were in three Warwick legislative districts, Dist. 29, Dist. 30 and Dist. 31.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reduced SNAP funding by about $186 billion over 10 years—a 20% —the largest reduction in the history of the program, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

“It also imposes stricter work requirements on SNAP participants. For the first time, adults between the ages of 55 and 64, as well as adults with children over the age of 14, are subject to these rules. They must work a minimum of 20 hours a week or only get benefits for a maximum of three months over three years. Preciously, such requirements applied only to able-bodied adults without dependents aged 18 to 54. These expanded work requirements create a significant paperwork burden, as affected individuals must submit monthly documentation to the state, which must then review and process that information,” the CBPP notes.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, costs are also shifting from the federal government to the states, according to the CBPP. The combined changes have reduced the number of people able to use SNAP by 5 million nationwide. In Rhode Island, the number of people using SNAP shrank by 16.72 percent from 140,646 to 117,128.

“Over the past year we have seen increasing demand for assistance with basic needs such as food due to inflation and a decrease in SNAP benefits impacting many families. Warwick is unique in that it has a large number of working families who do not otherwise qualify to shop regulary at existing food pantries that have income requirements. Even within the church we are seeing many families struggling to make ends meet,” said Lisa Pomeroy, who is running the new Warwick Ocean State Food Pantry.

Ocean State Food Pantry: Opportunity Meets Necessity

Legacy Church recently purchased the property at 3030 West Shore Road and the adjacent retail plaza, Pomeroy said. The church is renovating the former Job Lot and Work Out World spaces to build a new church home.

“The adjacent retail plaza was previously home to West Bay Community Action’s West Bay Marketplace (now on Jefferson Blvd) and Warwick Health and Human Services. With Cranston Community Action medical offices located directly across the street, this area is an ideal space for a food pantry and market. The church aims to positively impact the community, with our core goal being to “Feed people, build community, and share hope,” Pomeroy said, “We want a pantry and market that helps households struggling with food insecurity—those who would otherwise fall through the cracks—while preserving their dignity.

School supplies are in high demand and short supply as well.

“This August we held a backpack drive and distribution for families in the Warwick community and found the need for school supplies to be even greater than it was the previous year. Last summer we provided school supplies for 150 elementary children This summer we were able to provide supplies for 150 elementary children and an additional 62 middle and high school children so the need is definitely there,” Pomeroy said.