High school senior Jake Prokopets started his own hot dog stand about a year ago. He usually serves customers at the local Family Dollar, but on Tuesday, he set up at Granite Street Park in New London.

“I get a pretty wide variety of customers,” the 17-year-old said.

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After hearing about the government’s shutdown’s impact on SNAP, Prokopets decided to take things into his own hands.

He has a goal of serving 1,000 free hots dogs to kids whose families are experiencing food insecurity and say the park is a good location.

“I could really only think about the kids and how they couldn’t provide for themselves,” he said. “Some of them probably don’t eat if there’s no school. School lunch might be their only meal. So why

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