Murphy – Two federal judges ruled separately on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, using contingency funds during the government shutdown, according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture-run food aid program, was set to be frozen starting Saturday due to a government shutdown caused by an impasse in Congress over budget funding.
The Associated Press said the process to reload SNAP debit cards often takes one to two weeks.
Numerous local groups in Cherokee County were scrambling to fill the void left if SNAP funding was disrupted.
The Rev. Wil Posey of First United Methodist Church in Murphy, which hosted the meetings, said, “If the Federal Government Shutdown continues, 2,300-plus families will lose Food and Nutrition Benefits starting Nov. 1. That’s a loss of $720,000 in food benefits, and it is also money that goes into our local economy.”