As the holiday season grows closer I am feeling more gloomy than normal. I know I am not alone. Many of my patients are the children of federal workers, whose parents continue to work without pay as of the writing of this column. In expectation of a second paycheck with zero dollars and zero cents, many families are starting to make difficult choices. With the closure of supportive federal programs, such as Head Start and early Head Start, thousands have lost access to affordable childcare overnight. Thousands of Kitsap County residents have lost SNAP benefits, and they are turning to food banks to fill in the gaps left by the federal shutdown.

And the Christmas holidays are little more than a month away. It's safe to say the community is experiencing more stress than usual.

Many organiz

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