WHITEHALL TWP. Pa. – Families across our region are caught in the middle of a federal legal fight over SNAP benefits.

Here at home, food pantries say they’re seeing major impacts.

The back-and-forth court rulings on SNAP have created real confusion. A Boston appeals court ruled Sunday night that the Trump administration had to use emergency funding to issue payments. But Monday, the Trump administration went to the Supreme Court, asking them to block that decision.

The uncertainty is driving more people straight to local pantries.

“I mean this is food insecurity on steroids,” said Brenda Ringer, co-director of the Whitehall Food Pantry.

At the Whitehall Food Pantry, led by a coalition of six Whitehall churches, Monday night’s line was longer than usual, a sign of what’s happening nationwide.

“We used to feed about 40 families every Monday night and tonight we’re feeding 57 families, so it’s that’s a large increase,” Ringer said.

Organizers say calls started pouring in as soon as families heard their benefits might be delayed or stopped.

“A lot of people are calling, trying to get an appointment because they’re really desperate to feed their families and so we’ve had a very large uptick in the new people signing up for food here at the food pantry and appointments,” Ringer says.

For some, the fear is immediate.

“She had a call on Friday, the family said they have one meal, she had one meal left and granola bars or something, that’s all she had for the week until she got paid on Friday, so she had children to feed, you know, so we have to help them,” Ringer explains.

What stands out the most: the changing faces of who needs help.

“I’ve just been receiving a lot of calls even from outside the area which is really disconcerting to me because I can’t feed them. I wish I could but we can’t feed everybody,” said Doreen Wagner, coordinator of the pantry.

“We have a lot of senior citizens who come but with the SNAP program, in the situation that we’re in now, a lot more families, a lot more families,” Ringer added.

Volunteers say donations are helping, but the calls keep coming.

“We’re so thankful for all of these people and all of the community people that are helping us we really appreciate everybody’s help,” Ringer says.

And even with the back-and-forth on the federal level, confusion isn’t the main emotion these families are feeling.

“It’s more fear, absolutely. I’ve had calls where I’ve actually had them in tears, calling me, asking me, begging me to help them out because they don’t have food for their family,” Wagner added.

The Whitehall pantry is now purchasing all of the food themselves with donations from the churches and community members.

DHS says families can use money already loaded into their EBT cards. But for those who did not receive payments, benefits are still in limbo.

Meantime, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on Trump’s appeal Tuesday.