Tyler Perry donates nearly $1.4 million to organizations helping families impacted by reduced SNAP funding

Tyler Perry is sharing the wealth with families who lost benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), ABC News has learned. He donated nearly $1.4 million to organizations, including Baby2Baby, Meal on Wheels Atlanta and Atlanta Food Bank, who are helping impacted families.

“If you’ve never been poor then you may not fully understand the life changing impact SNAP benefits mean to hard-working people, to our seniors and to our children,” Tyler says in a statement to People. “For millions of people, it could mean extreme hunger. For newborns, it could mean a lack of access to formula.”

The SNAP program “provides food benefits to low-income families…so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being,” according to the official USDA website. With the government shutdown in place, the benefits were halted on Nov. 1, affecting nearly 42 million low-income Americans, according to ABC News. 

A federal judge had ordered the Trump administration pay and fully distribute the SNAP benefits for the month of November, but Trump sought to get the order blocked. The Trump administration asked the appeals court to make a decision by 4 p.m. ET Friday.