LA VERGNE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The last time Tiffany Lopez’s refrigerator was fully stocked, she cried.

“After I spent what I had left on the EBT card, knowing... I fought tears,” she said. “I was like, I don’t know when we’re going to have benefits back.”

Lopez is one of the almost 700,000 Tennesseans now bracing to lose access to their federal food assistance benefits through the SNAP program on Saturday because of the government shutdown.

RELATED COVERAGE: More than half a million Tennesseans are about to lose SNAP benefits. Here are other resources

“When I first read it, I had to read it again, and I was like, ‘This can’t be happening,’” Lopez said.

Lopez has epilepsy and chronic pain from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which restrict her ability to work and even drive. Plus, some of her chil

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