Since the federal government announced as a result of the ongoing shutdown it would pause SNAP benefits on Nov. 1, local food pantries have seen a sharp increase in the number of people using their services.

“Normally we service 500 families and on a bad week, we might have to turn away 10 people but most weeks we don’t run out of food,” said Fred Huebener, who manages the Warren Woods Mobile Food Pantry. “This week, people started lining up at 10 a.m. for our pantry that opens at 1:30 p.m.

“We shut down a full hour before we even opened and turned away more than 500 cars.”

The Warren Woods pantry is supplied by Gleaners, which on Oct. 28 gave 100 extra food boxes for a total of 600 to distribute to families who came to the drive-thru pantry at the Macomb Community College South Campus

See Full Page