ongoing government shutdown.<\/a><\/p>\nWhen the shutdown delayed federal food assistance, Richardson resident Katie Manigold said she felt she had to do something.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart was broken,\u201d she said. \u201cIt made no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manigold, a mother of two, said she wants to make sure no child in her community goes hungry.<\/p>\n
Manigold filled buckets with groceries, placed them on her front lawn and shared a Facebook post inviting anyone in need to stop by. Within hours, the post had hundreds of comments and dozens of shares.<\/p>\n
Neighbors began dropping off food, refilling the bins as quickly as they emptied. Hundreds of dollars were donated to support the local food bank.<\/p>\n
And it hasn’t stopped there. Nearly 50 people in Manigold\u2019s neighborhood have now signed up to cook hot Thanksgiving meals for families in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to be the change you want to see,\u201d Manigold said. \u201cAnd being able to put that into action has been really emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grassroots effort comes as millions of Americans face uncertainty around SNAP benefits, or federal food assistance. Federal officials recently released emergency funds to keep the program running through the shutdown, but many families could still face weeks and even a month of delays.<\/p>\n
Amid the gridlock in Washington, Manigold says her focus remains local, on the people right outside her door.<\/p>\n
On Halloween night, families stopped by to pick up essentials, from snacks to canned goods. For Manigold, that human connection is what it is all about.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne mom, a SNAP recipient, told me she was so thankful,\u201d she said. \u201cIt made me realize how much we all need each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The front-yard pantry continues to grow, with neighbors refilling it daily.<\/p>\n
The message is simple: Take what you need, no questions asked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manigold\u2019s simple Facebook post sparked a community effort to feed families as SNAP delays and the government shutdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-34195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}