ORLANDO, Fla. — Shirley Laureano, a mother to two young children, relies on $700 a month in federal food stamp money to help buy her family’s groceries as her job at a tea house doesn’t pay enough to cover all her bills.

She expected November’s funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called SNAP or food stamps, to be available Thursday. But because of the ongoing government shutdown Laureano, like millions of other Americans, did not get her money.

So Friday morning she joined about 300 others lined up at an east Orange County church for a food giveaway. Many arrived 90 minutes early, desperate to get a box full of chicken, ground beef, produce, rice and beans.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Laureano, whose children are ages two and eight months, as she sat in her car waiting for the giveaway to start. “You hear ‘food banks’ and you don’t associate that with your lifestyle,” she said. “Just getting into that mindset – like I do need the extra help, and I have to go out there and find it — is very anxiety inducing.”

SNAP ran out of funding on Nov. 1 because of the ongoing shutdown, the longest in the nation’s history. A judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately fund the program that helps feed 3 million Floridians and about 42 million Americans nationwide, but the president has appealed that ruling.

That’s left SNAP recipients with empty accounts, lots of questions and a sense of desperation. Central Florida food bank operators, in turn, say they are overwhelmed by a sudden spike in demand.

Jennifer Desire Hilaire, founder and executive director of the Desire Foundation, Inc., which has food pantries in East Orlando and Paramore, said on a typical day her foundation distributes food to about 115 families. Monday, it gave groceries to more than 250.

“I have been doing this the last 10 years of my life, and I have never seen this many people calling, texting and asking for food. Never. It’s ridiculous. It’s bananas,” Hilaire said.

And now she fears the suspension of SNAP payments will mean an ongoing demand that pantries will not be able to meet.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, which distributes groceries to about 400 food pantries and other charities across the region, has the same fear.

“Week over week, we’re seeing a 300% increase in people seeking assistance,” said Stephanie Palacios, the agency’s director of advocacy and government relations. “We are scaling up as much as we can but we are never going to meet that demand. We just can’t do it.”

Hilarie said Second Harvest needs cash and food donations to keep the supply chain going. But smaller agencies like hers are also in need right now.

“I’ve literally been like pleading with people, calling people to help, because there’s just no way that any food pantry is going to be able to accommodate this. This cannot last more than a month. There’s no way,” Hilarie said.

The Friday morning giveaway, one of a number held this week, was hosted by Orange County Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, with the boxes of food provided by Second Harvest.

Frost said such giveaways are helpful but cannot make up for SNAP, which provides key help to so many Floridians, including children, senior citizens and people with disabilities.

“It’s important that we know, there’s no food bank, there’s no food drive that can scratch the surface of what SNAP does for this country. We need it all at the same time,” Frost said.

Marlene Valle lined up an hour before the food giveaway began. The 67-year-old’s only income is about $1,000 a month in Social Security, and her $280 a month SNAP benefit provides a much-needed way to buy food. She did not get her November payment.

“I thought it would be only temporary, but I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t have any words right now. I’m in shock. I didn’t think this was going to happen. But we will try to survive. What can we do? We cannot depend on the government,” Valle added.

Shey Urbay also came early, hoping to get a food box to help feed her family of four before supplies ran out. Although she is not a SNAP recipient, her family is struggling.

“It’s just been a difficult year. My husband lost his job due to the economy. So we take advantage of things like this,” Urbay said.

And she’s noticed the lines at food banks are suddenly longer.

“I just went to one last week at a smaller church and they told me there was a big increase in people and the church was having to decrease what they give,” Urbay said.

For Laureano, an empty SNAP account sharply limits what food she can buy for her kids. “It’s canned stuff. Meat is out of the question. Fresh fruit is out of the question.”

When her funds didn’t arrive Thursday, she hoped it was a mistake.

“I tried calling yesterday,” she said. “But there’s nothing there.”

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