How Starlight Connected 150,000 Credit Union Members to Food Resources During the SNAP Crisis
How Starlight Connected 150,000 Credit Union Members to Food Resources During the SNAP Crisis
The October 2025 government shutdown halted SNAP benefits for over 40 million Americans. In the midst of the ongoing affordability crisis, this led to millions more American families needing food assistance immediately.
Within four days, six credit unions using Starlight reached 150,000 members with hyper-local food banks and emergency resources:
- Starlight added more that 700 local food banks and food assistance resources targeting zip codes within all customer fields of membership
- Six partner credit unions activated within four days
- 150,000 members received information on local food banks and emergency assistance
- One member searching for help for her 94-year-old father was connected to food resources, low-cost senior dental care, and Meals on Wheels
How It Worked
When SNAP payments stalled, the Starlight team built and integrated hyper-local food banks and community resources into our platform.
The platform was able to:
- Analyze member data to identify those most likely to be impacted
- Surface relevant local resources: food pantries with delivery, emergency meal programs, senior nutrition services, utility assistance
- Deliver personalized outreach through existing channels—email, mobile app, online banking
- Tailor resources to each member's zip code and household needs
- Proactively reach out to members who had been connected to SNAP over the past year
Helping Credit Unions Support Members at Scale
The SNAP shutdown was an example of thousands of members needing support at once. Credit union teams work tirelessly to support their members, but when events like this happen, they need tools that enable them to respond at scale. Starlight equipped credit unions with the infrastructure to proactively identify who needed help and connect them to local assistance automatically—empowering staff to deliver impact without adding to their workload.
The food resource integration is now a permanent part of the Starlight platform. Economic uncertainty isn't going away—and when the next crisis hits, credit unions using Starlight will be ready to act immediately, connecting members to the resources they need before financial strain becomes financial crisis.