![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1d0d41-20251106-a-line-wraps-around-a-block-600.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe line to get into the food bank in Fresno \u2014\u00a0in California\u2019s agricultural heartland \u2014\u00a0is hundreds of people long and snakes along the sidewalk. <\/p>\n
Stephanie Wininger, a coordinator with the Central California Food Bank, is passing out laminated cards with numbers on them. It\u2019s a first-come, first-served system. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got here this morning at 7, the line already wrapped around the corner,\u201d she said. \u201cUsually, it wouldn\u2019t even hit the corner yet before the shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within five minutes, she\u2019s run out of cards to give out. There are at least 100 more people in line. It\u2019s unclear whether they\u2019ll get in to get food. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people wait in line to receive free groceries at a Central California Food Bank distribution facility in Fresno, California, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Nova Safo\/Marketplace<\/p>\n
Food banks have been bracing for an influx<\/a> as SNAP benefits \u2014 commonly known as food stamps \u2014 remain on hold<\/a> and the Trump administration figures out how to comply with a court order to pay<\/a> at least half of the benefits during the shutdown.<\/p>\n SNAP has never stopped before<\/a>, not even in earlier shutdowns. Now, that influx is starting to materialize<\/a>, with reports of more people showing up for aid in Texas<\/a>, Colorado<\/a>, Utah<\/a>, here in Fresno, and beyond.<\/p>\n Among those who did make it into the Central California Food Bank is 39-year-old Brandon Holm. He said he\u2019s a self-employed tattoo artist and depends on SNAP. And he\u2019s at the food bank for the first time. <\/p>\n \u201cWe’re only able to get 15 items today. I don’t know how long that 15 items is going to last,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I don\u2019t know when the SNAP benefits are actually going to come through, and so I’m going to end up having to look for more food resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Sitting nearby, sipping coffee and waiting for their turn to pick up food, are Maria Eva Romero and Felipa Cruz. They\u2019re 81 and 73, respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came to get food because we don’t have any,\u201d they said in Spanish. <\/p>\n SNAP recipients Maria Eva Romero, 81 and Felipa Cruz, 73, waiting to get free groceries at a Central California Food Bank distribution facility in Fresno, California.<\/p>\n Nova Safo\/Marketplace<\/p>\n They say they\u2019re out of food and are here because they didn\u2019t get their SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n I ask them what they\u2019ll do if SNAP remains cut off for weeks. \u201cIf they let us work, we\u2019ll work,\u201d they respond.<\/p>\n They say they\u2019ll go back to picking produce in the fields just to make ends meet.<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The line to get into the food bank in Fresno \u2014\u00a0in California\u2019s agricultural heartland \u2014\u00a0is hundreds of people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6100,14608,112,114,113,14188],"class_list":{"0":"post-41025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-food-bank","9":"tag-food-stamps","10":"tag-fresno","11":"tag-fresno-headlines","12":"tag-fresno-news","13":"tag-snap-benefits"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bffc59-20251106-two-older-women-sitting-down-600.jpg\")
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