Hours before a freeze on federal food assistance benefits was scheduled to go into effect midnight Friday, a line formed outside the New Hope Food Pantry in Olathe.
A young mom with her children waited alongside several seniors, a couple of young men and one grandmother who said she just learned a few days ago that recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (referred to as SNAP) likely wouldn’t be getting their November benefits.
And though grandmother Virginia Ward, 71, said she only receives a small amount each month, the SNAP benefits help fill her cupboards. As she waited for her turn to get a trunk load of food, she said people in Washington D.C. need to understand what the shutdown is doing to many across the nation…