PEORIA ( 25News Now ) - A Peoria woman decided to step up and help her community struggling with food insecurity due to a delay in SNAP benefits.

Jenn Buels said that when she heard about the delay, she took it upon herself to step in and help her and her neighbors by extending a hand.

Two days ago, she set up a table with totes and went to Facebook to post about her project and invite members of Peoria to grab whatever they needed. Since then, she has had 13 families come and pick up non-perishable foods from the pantry.

“I wanted to start at home,” said Buels. “Food banks aren’t going to be able to keep up with that pace.”

Between food banks struggling with demand during the government shutdown and a few food banks with flexible hours, she hopes that her food drive stand will be

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