- December 13, 2025
As Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients lost their food money at the end of October, Amanda and Price Kushner, owners of Freida’s Bakery & Provisions decided to act.
Freida’s Bakery & Provisions began offering free loaves of fresh sourdough bread to all SNAP recipients beginning Oct. 31. But their project quickly expanded, Amanda Kushner said, as Freida’s began receiving an onslaught of donations and requests.
“The reaction to that was huge, from the community,” Amanda Kushner said. “Everybody was really supportive of our idea about the bread, and they wanted to know how they could contribute.”
Now, in addition to the bread, the bakery has a dry-goods pantry for those in need and is also offering free eggs when available and pre-made meals to those in need. The pre-made meals are on a reservation-only basis, Kushner said, and can be reserved by emailing [email protected].
“It's been a real steady little stream of people,” Kushner said. “Which is great because then I can take the time to really respond to them and find out what it is they're looking for.”
To give SNAP recipients privacy, Kushner said they also decided to open their doors Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m. for SNAP recipients only. The bakery is open on Friday and Saturdays for normal business hours, and usually has a long line.
Kushner said she is also curating a “wishlist” for those who need specific things – one mother, she said, reached out and asked for diapers, another for butter. For “wishlist” items, people need only to email Freida’s or stop in to speak with Kushner.
She then sends those items to members of the community who have asked to help with donations.
“There's absolutely no pressure for anybody to do this, but it's a great way for people who want to donate to be able to donate more than just cereal,” she said. “Because we know exactly the needs of someone specifically.”
The main difference from their pantry and larger food pantries, she said, is that people are not just given a pre-selected box of items.
“They can take whatever they want and leave whatever they want,” Kushner said. And people can also come by and swap out items they have too much of for whatever it is they need, she said.
Kushner said she and her husband are happy to help. The two of them were hit with the need to extend a helping hand when, on a trip to their bagel business in Philadelphia, they saw air traffic controllers, working without a paycheck, handing out fliers about the shutdown.
From the furloughed employees to SNAP recipients, the shutdown is putting “an intense amount of pressure” on families who are already struggling, she said. And with the holidays around the corner, it hit them both hard.
“This realization hit that, wow, all these people who are barely making ends meet anyway, are suddenly about to be without during this time,” Kushner said. “And I just wanted to do something.”
For now, Freida’s will be open through Nov. 23 to continue handing out bread, pre-made meals and other goods. The store will be closed for two weeks after that, but Kushner and her husband are still deciding how their little pantry will continue after that, either while the shop is closed or if it will reopen with Freida’s in December.
For now, people can stay updated through Freida’s Facebook page.
“No matter what, we’ll do what we can to help people who need help,” she said.
