ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A rural northwest Georgia food pantry knows the next time they open their doors it’ll be slammed.

In Rome, Journey Community Food Pantry serves 700-800 families a month. They’ve already had 20 to 25 new families each week this month.

For the first time in 12 years, they had to close early three weeks ago because they were so busy.

That was before the federal government announced they wouldn’t be funding SNAP in November.

“Some of these people have never had to go to a food pantry before and they’re just broken and crying,” Executive Director Debbie Crumbly said.

Crumbly said there’s less to go around, but demand is up.

“Last week we had our first clients from a furloughed federal office here,” she said.

Crumbly said 60% of her clients use SNAP.

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