In show of community power, volunteers provide stopgap services during shutdown

In show of community power, volunteers provide stopgap services during shutdown Nation Nov 11, 2025 2:10 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — It started with a late October meeting between a lifestyle entrepreneur, a marketing professional, a restaurant owner and a social worker at a brewery in the Florida panhandle. Within hours, Pensacola Grocery Buddies was born.

The four women wanted to pair people facing uncertainty over Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program food benefits with charitably inclined folks offering to cover grocery costs and deliveries. In just two weeks, co-organizer Hale Morrissette said they’ve made over 300 matches and raised more than $10,000 for those they cannot connect.

“Everybody’s stepping up,” said Morrissette, 35, the operations director at a local health nonprof