Two federal judges ruled Friday that the Trump administration must continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) despite the ongoing government shutdown, a decision that came just hours before benefits were set to expire.
It remains unclear when those funds will reach the roughly 42 million Americans who depend on SNAP each month, and food pantries across the country, including in Charlotte County, are preparing for an influx of people in need.
Watch Fox 4’s Alex Orenczuk report on how food pantries are preparing for SNAP cuts:
BRACING FOR IMPACT: Charlotte food pantries prepare for cuts to SNAP funding
At the Wintergarden Food Pantry in Port Charlotte, volunteers packed boxes of produce, bread and protein on Thursday, loading them into hundreds of cars in their weekly drive-through distribution, as they’ve done since the pantry opened in 2018…