A US federal program to help low-income individuals and families purchase food is anticipated to end on Saturday due to the U.S. government shutdown.

Last week, the Department of Human Services announced that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding will be suspended.

Locally, 9,781 residents in Carbon County are enrolled in SNAP; 61,128 in Lehigh County; 23,328 in Monroe County; 34,864 in Northampton County; and 25,679 in Schuylkill County.

Pastor Sharon Stokes of G-Lady’s Community Food Pantry of Tamaqua is bracing for what’s to come.

“As a community-run pantry, we are doing everything we can to brace for the impact of the upcoming food stamp cuts. We are not government-funded and rely entirely on the kindness of our neighbors through donations,” Stokes said of the emergency pantry.

She said that thanks to recent support, the pantry has been able to stock its shelves and serve many families.

“But we know the road ahead will be challenging,” Stokes said. “While we’re deeply grateful for what we’ve received, we also recognize that our resources are limited, and we may not be able to meet every need. We remain committed to doing our best, with transparency and compassion, and we encourage continued community support as we navigate this together.”

Barbara Scheirer, director of the Northern Lehigh Food Bank, said many families will be affected.

Scheirer said it fluctuates, and that in the month of January, they served 159 households, or 446 people.

On average, the Northern Lehigh Food Bank serves about 170 families per month.

This month, Scheirer said they served around 191 families, or 604 people, including 10 new families, 29 new people, and that she now has calls for probably another 10 more families who need to come for November.

“There’s a great need out there, and we have families who work, one or two people in the household are working and they just cannot make ends meet,” Scheirer said. “And we have seniors who rely on the SNAP program, we have children that are affected by this.”

Scheirer noted that “All food banks are really struggling right now; our big supplier of food is Second Harvest, and they’ve been struggling for quite a while to provide food. Between the state budget and everything that’s going on with the federal, it’s hard to get food.”

Scheirer said they did put word out on their Facebook page looking for donations, “and we have received donations, which we are very grateful.”

She said anyone interested may drop off nonperishable food, or mail donations to the Northern Lehigh Food Bank, P.O. Box 255 Slatington, PA, 18080. If dropping off donations, call 610-767-9525, beforehand.

Susie Arner, co-director of the Palmerton Food Pantry, took to Facebook to ask anyone who has the ability to donate a turkey to the Palmerton Food Pantry to assure they have enough turkeys for Thanksgiving would be greatly appreciated.

“If you have in date non perishables to donate, that’s wonderful and very appreciated,” Arner posted. “Please note if you can make a cash donation to the pantry, we can purchase items at a much lower cost than the individual can when walking into a store so lets sum it up to say ‘we get more bang (food) for the buck.’”

Arner said that cash donations may be sent to the Christian Action Council of Palmerton Area Churches (CACPAC) Food Pantry, P.O. Box 213 Aquashicola, PA.

“Everything will support local families in need,” she said. “We are a full volunteer organization.”

Currently, Arner noted the pantry serves about 160 households at each distribution, and is fully aware that will continue to rise.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a food assistance program that helps more than 2 million Pennsylvanians — mostly children, older adults, or disabled — buy groceries and feed their household each month.

SNAP benefits are 100% federally funded, and benefits can only be spent on food, according to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

Each month, Pennsylvania receives more than $350 million in SNAP funds from the federal government that support grocers, food retailers, and Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry while also helping individuals and families put food on the table.

While the charitable food network is a vital part of ensuring that Pennsylvanians have access to healthy food, this network cannot replace the benefit to the state from SNAP, which provides 9 meals for every 1 meal provided by our charitable network.

About 1 in 6 Pennsylvanians use SNAP every month, with 35% under the age of 18, 25% 55 years of age or older, and 11% ages 18 to 54 having a disability.

The concept for the first Food Stamp Program established in 1939 has been linked to then Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and the program’s first Administrator, Milo Perkins.

The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures.

For every $1 worth of orange stamps purchased, 50 cents worth of blue stamps were received.

From 1961 through 1964, a Pilot Food Stamp Program was enacted.

On Jan. 31, 1964, then President Lyndon B. Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the Food Stamp Program permanent. Among the purposes of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 were strengthening the agricultural economy and providing improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot Food Stamp Program under congressional control and to enact the regulations into law.