HARTFORD, Conn. — Hartford Archbishop Christopher Coyne directed $500,000 in emergency funding this week to local food banks amid Connecticut's effort to help those impacted by the ongoing federal shutdown.

The Archbishop's Annual Appeal released the funding to food banks in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties, according to archdiocese spokesperson David Elliott. The goal behind the funding was to help recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , which ran out of money on Nov. 1 due to the shutdown.

SNAP is the "largest nutrition assistance program in the U.S.," providing food benefits low-income families so that they have access to nutritious food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture .

Coyne said the funding is part of the continuous effort of t

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