The local call center that helps people find a bed or a mental health professional or emergency health care – 211OC – is gearing up to field tens of thousands of new calls from people with a single, urgent question:

Where can I get something to eat?

State officials said last week that the ongoing government shutdown will force federally financed food assistance – offered as CalFresh in California and as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (or SNAP), nationally – to go dark starting Saturday, Nov. 1. Federal officials confirmed Sunday, Oct. 26, that SNAP payments would stop starting next month. No timeline has been offered for when payments might resume.

At the same time, 211OC – a nonprofit hotline with 25 operators that in a typical month handles about 12,000 calls and 7,00

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