MAINE, USA — About 170,000 Mainers are feeling the effects of losing access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as the federal government shutdown becomes the longest in U.S. history. Across the state, food pantries and local businesses are working urgently to fill the gap left by the halted aid.

One of the organizations leading that effort is the Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine , the state’s Feeding America partner, which supplies food to more than 600 pantries and meal sites statewide and distributes over 30 million meals each year.

President Heather Paquette told NEWS CENTER Maine the ripple effects of federal funding cuts have been building for months, long before the SNAP suspension in November.

In March, Paquette said, Good Shepherd learned its fundi

See Full Page