Food Finders, a nonprofit serving four counties across Southern California, will expand its grocery distribution program in Long Beach as the ongoing federal government shutdown threatens to delay CalFresh food assistance benefits for millions in Los Angeles County.

The federal government has been shut down for nearly an entire month, starting on Oct. 1, after Congress failed to pass a budget for the 2026 fiscal year — with Republicans clashing with Democrats over their demands to address the affordability of health care across the country.

The shutdown, among the longest in American history, is causing ripple effects across the country, especially for federally funded government assistance programs that millions rely on to meet their basic necessities, like food access.

The California Department of Social Services, which administers the CalFresh benefits program — known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in other states — said on its website that the program’s November benefits would be delayed as a result of the government shutdown.

“No new federal funding supporting programs such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known as CalWORKs in California, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as CalFresh in California,” CDSS said on its website, “will be provided until the President and Congress take action.”

Democrats, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, made a push in Congress to carve out funding to continue food aid funding despite the shutdown, which Republicans rejected — putting more than 40 million Americans at risk of losing their food benefits.

Around 1.5 million people in Los Angeles County rely on CalFresh benefits to put food on the table, Food Finders said in a Wednesday news release. And in Long Beach alone, more than 93,000 people rely on CalFresh to help pay for groceries.

“Due to the federal government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is not sending money to states for November CalFresh benefits,” CalFresh said in a Monday, Oct. 27, statement on its website. “This means your county cannot add money to your EBT card until federal funding is restored. This impacts all CalFresh households and cannot be appealed.”

With no apparent resolution of the government shutdown on the immediate horizon, Food Finders and LA County Board of Supervisors member Janice Hahn are hoping to supplement with the expansion of the organization’s Community Marketplace program.

Starting this Saturday, Nov. 1, Food Finders will host grocery distributions at Long Beach’s Admiral Kidd Park, 2125 Santa Fe Ave., every weekend.

Each distribution event will provide free groceries, fresh produce and other resources to residents in need, Food Finders said. This effort, the nonprofit added, is being supported by Hahn’s office.

“The shutdown’s impact on CalFresh is being felt across every age group, from families already struggling to make ends meet to seniors who depend on these benefits to eat,” Food Finders Executive Director Diana Lara said. “Supervisor Hahn’s support ensures we can step in quickly to fill that gap.”

The grocery distribution events will get underway each Saturday through Dec. 6, Food Finders said.

Each event will run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

“Hardworking LA County residents can’t afford to have their healthcare premiums double and I am proud of our Members of Congress who are fighting hard to prevent it,” Hahn said in a Wednesday statement. “While their fight continues, my team and I are doing everything we can to meet this moment and partnering with great organizations like Food Finders to get groceries to people in need.”

Food Finders, meanwhile, is also in need of volunteers and donors to help sustain grocery distributions, the organization said.

People interested in volunteering can contact Stephen Gomez at sgomez@foodfinders.org.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.