NEW YORK (PIX11) – This weekend marks the first instance where the Federal Food Assistance Program, including SNAP benefits, has been temporarily suspended due to the ongoing government shutdown in Washington.

Two federal judges issued separate rulings Friday ordering the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP through an emergency reserve fund.

But that could take days, if not longer.

How are New Yorkers coping, and where can they get help?

Neighborhood churches like Blessed Sacrament on the Upper West Side and others across the five boroughs are expecting more and more people to come to their soup kitchens and food pantries now that SNAP benefits have ended temporarily.

“We usually get 100 people, but I am expecting 130 tomorrow,” Father David Nolan, the pastor at Blessed Sacr

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