It’s just after 11 a.m. on Tuesday, past distribution hours, but the Pleasant Grove Food Pantry is still full of people waiting to receive food assistance.

Diana Johnson, a former client who is now a volunteer, said they've been “overloaded” with clients since the federal government shut down last month – and this week has been especially busy.

“This place filled up three times in all of these chairs, and we have 10 chairs and seven rows," Johnson said. “A lot of people been affected by the government shutdown, by SNAPs not being given out. It's just really been hard on a lot of people, a lot are struggling.”

She’s referring to families who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which was frozen – and later reinstated at half its usual amount — because of th

See Full Page