New clients are seeking assistance from Seacoast food pantries due to the four-week-long U.S. government shutdown and the looming halt of federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

On Nov. 1, federal funding for SNAP is set to cease. See a list of Seacoast food pantries at the end of this story that are working to help provide what people need.

“What’s really happening is that we have more need than we’ve ever seen and less federal support than we’ve ever felt,” said Megan Shapiro Ross, executive director of Footprints food pantry in Kittery, Maine. “That is creating emotionally a sense of anxiety, uncertainty, insecurity for families who are having to choose between food and groceries, housing, fuel assistance, medical care, transportation costs and just feel

See Full Page