As the federal shutdown threatens to shut down the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, food banks and grocers are bracing for impact.

In Bismark, North Dakota, the Great Plains Food Bank is considering starting mobile distribution routes and fundraising to ensure SNAP recipients still have access to food if their benefits dry up.

"To prepare for the possibility of SNAP pause, we are working with our local partners in all of the communities: shelters, soup kitchens, pantries," said Abby Tow the Great Plains Food Bank donor relations officer.

Tow estimates a SNAP pause would impact 48,000 people in her state alone.

Across the country, in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Marquitrice Mangham relies on SNAP recipients to keep her grocery business operating.

As part of her nonprofit, In Her Shoes, Marquitrice runs two grocery stores and a mobile grocery truck. The businesses bring fresh food into rural communities.

She said between 10% and 15% of her sales come from Electric Benefit Transfer cards, where SNAP funds are loaded for recipients.

"We are concerned also that our sales will be impacted because now those funds won't be available to most of our customers," she said.