The Missoula Food Bank & Community Center in Montana doubled their food order for the first two weeks of November to help handle a flood of requests and will spend “far and above” more than what they have budgeted this month, said Executive Director Amy Allison.
A half a dozen other food banks across the country told USA TODAY similar stories: They've carved massive holes in their budgets over the last six weeks as they tried to keep up with demand sparked by the federal government shutdown. It hit at the same time layoffs and rising prices had already boosted the number of people seeking help.
And now they're facing the rest of the year having already pleaded with every donor on their list to give as much as possible.
“The fallout is going to be huge and I don't think we can even really wrap our heads around that yet," Allison said.
The food banks said they expect to feel the impacts of the shutdown for months, even though the federal government reopened Thursday evening.
