With Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in limbo amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, recipients say they’ve had to get increasingly resourceful to feed themselves and their families.

And while a growing push from food banks and churches to feed hungry people has helped matters somewhat, it hasn’t come close to erasing a daily worry in 11,000 Mesa County households that use the government program to afford groceries.

“I’m a little bit anxious all the time … we’re OK right now, but in the next couple weeks, I don’t know,” said one mother and business major at CMU who receives SNAP benefits, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of stigmas associated with the program. “I’ve been reaching out to maybe do babysitting, selling things out of my home, just to p

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