SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Food assistance programs through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and California’s CalFresh were suddenly cut off amid the ongoing government shutdown, impacting more than 270,000 people in the Sacramento region.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Nov. 1 that funds have “run dry.”

Benjamin Brumer, who works with Market Match — a nonprofit that helps SNAP and CalFresh recipients stretch their food dollars — said the impact has been immediate.

“People’s benefits have gone down, they’ve reached near zero now. And this is a lifeline,” Brumer said. “Without SNAP, without CalFresh, and without our booth — it hurts. It hurts the customers who rely on it, and it hurts the farmers who sell their produce here.”

Market Match provi

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