At the Bread of Life soup kitchen in Augusta, head chef Willie Brown has his volunteer staff chopping peppers and cracking eggs for the day's lunch menu.
"I'm making BBQ pulled pork, rice, mixed veggies and rolls," Brown says while stacking dishware.
About 65 people show up for breakfast in the one-hour time slot. More than 100 are expected for lunch. Brown says he and his team always have something to do.
"When I do eggs, I have to crack about 12 dozen ... and I'll cook like sausage with it. I do a mixture of stuff, I serve fruit in the morning and stuff like that," he says.
Bread of Life is also a homeless shelter, an addiction recovery center and manages over 100 subsidized housing units in the Augusta area.
According to Executive Director Victoria Abbot, the majority of people the nonprofit serves receive SNAP benefits, a national food assistance program that provides monthly grocery money to more than 22 million households in the U.S.
But due to the federal government shutdown, those low-income families likely won't see any of that money after Saturday, Nov. 1. And without money to feed themselves, Abbot said they will need to cut other areas of their household budget — such as health care, housing or car payments.
"My biggest concern are the people who don't have transportation to the soup kitchen — whose part time jobs don't allow them the flexibility to get food from us, or the Augusta Food Bank, or any food bank in their area," Abbot said. "I think there's folks out there that are just going to cut back and cut back."
The government has been shut down since Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass a spending package before a Sept. 31 deadline.
While the Trump administration has the power to partly fund SNAP by activating contingency funds or by using discretionary authority to transfer funds, the president and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has so far opted not to.
Some states, including Maine, are funneling money into local food assistance programs. But those food pantries, soup kitchens and meal programs are preparing for visitor numbers to hit new records.
For the Augusta Food Bank, large crowds are nothing new.
"So far, we've been able to meet the demand — even though five years ago we were bringing in 600,000 pounds of food a year in distribution. This year we will do 1.5 million pounds of food," said CEO Bob Moore.
He said rising costs of housing and groceries have more people using the Food Bank than ever before.
Those who live in Augusta can sign up for appointments Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursdays are "free food days" where anyone, regardless of where they live or their income, can stop in and take whatever the pantry hasn't given away.
Moore said lines for Thursday giveaways can start as early as 5 a.m.
He says there's no good way of predicting how many more people will visit because of the lapsed federal benefits. But he's putting out calls for more food, funds and volunteers to help with whatever comes next.
"To use a politically incorrect term, it's not just poor people anymore trying to make ends meet," he said.
According to the state of Maine, 75% of SNAP households include at least one working adult, more than half include a person with a disability and more than one-third include children.
Alexis Beebe is a single mom with two boys at her home in Augusta. She gets about $600 on her EBT card every month to help feed her family.
She has relied on Bread of Life and other organizations in Augusta, but says the money from SNAP helps the most.
"It has given me peace of mind, having two children that eat more than adults at this point in their growing stage," she said. "It makes me not worry about food. That's one thing that I haven't had to have in my mind as a struggle until recently."
Beebe buys a lot of the same things every month with her SNAP dollars — things like chicken, rice, beans and occasional treats for the boys when they're being good.
She's optimistic that by visiting local food pantries and following low-cost meal recipes from social media, she'll be able to get by over the course of the shutdown.
But beyond the short-term impact of funds being cut off due to the government shutdown, changes to SNAP in “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will eliminate an estimated $187 billion in federal spending from SNAP through 2034.
Beebe said she knows hard times could be ahead. But for now, she's working to make sure her kids don't notice when the family falls on hard times.
"There's always food in the house; but it may not be exactly what they want [or need]." she said. "They have no idea about the upcoming cuts because it hasn't happened yet and it's not something they need to worry about because I'll always work my butt off for them."
According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, SNAP benefits already loaded onto EBT cards in October remain available for use to purchase food.
Those who need additional resources are encouraged to call their local food pantry or dial 211.
