DES MOINES, Iowa — The USDA warns that SNAP Benefit funding will run out in November if the government shutdown continues. Food pantries are preparing for the impact.

Anne Bacon, the CEO of IMPACT Community Action Partnership, a non profit that runs a food pantry, said that if SNAP benefits run out of funding many families will need food pantries.

“We see quite a few people who have SNAP already, but there’s it’s a drop in the bucket to the number of people who are actually receiving SNAP, and so we know that if SNAP benefits stop, families will be driven into the food pantries,” Bacon said.

Bacon said an increase of people needing a food pantries services is difficult to accommodate.

“I think what people don’t realize is our great partners DMARC, the Food Bank of Iowa provide us with the food, but then we have to staff and put the foods on the shelves and get people directly in contact with this product. When that kind of increase of volume comes in, it’s extraordinarily hard on food pantries,” Bacon said.

Scott Everhart, a SNAP Benefit Recipient, said that SNAP is important to him.

“I use SNAP benefits, and they are a lifeline right now,” Everhart said.

Everhart said that he thinks he is lucky that he only has to worry about himself and that families that rely on SNAP benefits are really going to struggle.

“I’m fortunate to just worry about myself, but I can’t imagine a single parent with four or five kids and what the stress that of the unknown that they’re going through right now,” Everhart said.

Bacon hopes that if SNAP funding runs out, the State can fill in the gaps.

“My greatest hope would be that the state could utilize the rainy day fund if it isn’t raining now, I don’t know when it will. That would be a massive help that they could lead with the cash that the state of Iowa has and wait for the government to open to cover those costs,” Bacon said.