PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- The government shutdown has left thousands of Rhode Islanders facing a gap in food assistance, and as the weather gets colder, there's concern about the shutdown's impact on winter heating assistance programs.

12 News reached out to the governor's office, which said that people who are currently enrolled in the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, commonly referred to as LIHEAP, have not been impacted.

However, the state is putting LIHEAP's emergency deliveries of home heating oil or pellets on pause until December, when they'll be funded with the state's rollover funds from last winter.

Filling the gap during an unprecedented emergency is something that the United Way of Rhode Island prepares for all year long.

"You give us a call, and we're there around th

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