In East Chicago, Indiana, the latest Paying It Forward community meal at a local church drew 72 attendees. As November approaches, Tamye Longoria, the event’s founder, is preparing for an even greater demand, despite her own reliance on SNAP benefits.

“We’re facing a hunger crisis,” Longoria expressed, highlighting the community’s urgent needs.

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Starting from November 1, millions of families across the United States may lose access to SNAP benefits, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

On a recent Friday, two federal judges issued rulings that require President Donald Trump’s administration to continue funding SNAP, the country’s largest food assistance initiative, during the government shutdown. This funding would utilize contingency funds. However, uncertainty remains over how swiftly these benefits can be restored to beneficiaries’ debit cards, a process that typically spans one to two weeks. Additionally, these legal decisions are expected to undergo appeals.

Longoria, who depends on these benefits herself due to a disability that prevents her from maintaining a traditional full-time job, is among those affected by this uncertainty.

“I’m going to have to go to food pantries myself and eat what I can eat, and maybe one meal a day,” Longoria said.

Despite her own challenges, it is not stopping her from hosting her monthly Warm Heart community meals through her foundation, Paying It Forward. With the help of East Chicago Church, they provide full dinners and sometimes gifts, for anyone dealing with food insecurity.

“It’s going to be literally, do I pay my rent? Do I feed my family?” Longoria said.

In the Chicagoland metro area, 12% of households receive SNAP benefits. That’s more than 450,000 families. Of those households 42.1% include someone with a disability, 39.5% include an elderly person, and 46.3% have a minor.

“I don’t let them know that, like, oh, mommy’s struggling to put food on the table for you guys,” said Kelli Brinnehl.

Brinnehl, a mother of three, says her link card that accesses SNAP benefits was hacked into during the past few months.

“With losing it the last couple months, like, so I have nothing,” Brinnehl said.

She is only two months away from graduating from her workforce development program, something to help get a job, so she wouldn’t need SNAP benefits. But, she says, she might have to consider dropping out so she can feed her kids.

“If I got a job, A, I wouldn’t graduate, and B, I would still have to pay out-of-pocket, you know, for a babysitter and their food,” Brinnehl said.

Those complex realities, which many families find themselves in, are why Longoria is not giving up.

“Do what you can in order to survive and have hope that is going to get better,” Longoria said.

The next Warm Heart community meal will be at East Chicago Church on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. All are welcome.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.