‘It’s really difficult at this moment’: Seminole County food pantries seek volunteers, donations as shutdown ends 

For Jessica, the Insasmuch Food Pantry in Geneva has been a “cornerstone foundation” for her family over the last five years. 

And lately, the pantry has been busier. 

Before the federal government shutdown, if she got to the line a little later than usual, she would typically be 15th in line. Then it went to 39 or 40. 

“Last week they helped like 60 families,” Jessica said. “There’s definitely been an influx in the last couple weeks.”

Oviedo Community News is not using the last name of food pantry recipients in this story. The Geneva resident says her family has qualified for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, off and on over the years. 

She has five children, including in middle school, and her husband recently took a new job that was nightshift and paid better, so they no longer qualified. 

After the bills are paid, there’s little left over for necessities, like food, Jessica said.  

“Right now, we don’t have any benefits,” Jessica said. “It’s really difficult at this moment. We have enough money to pay our bills. But just about that and scraping by with the rest of it. There’s sort of a gap in food assistance.”

The government shutdown has ended, and one area of relief for Central Florida families is the resumption of payment for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP. That program, formerly called food stamps, is used by 12.7% of Floridians. 

Nationwide, in 2024, 41.7 million Americans got an average of $187 per month. In Florida, that includes 2.9 million people in June of 2025.

The Florida Department of Children and Families, which administers the SNAP program in Florida, said that with the shutdown ended, payments have now been processed. What’s more, recipients scheduled to receive November SNAP benefits after Nov. 14 will receive their benefits on their normally scheduled issuance dates. 

“On Nov. 13, 2025, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service provided guidance to states allowing the payment of full November 2025 SNAP benefits to eligible recipients following the end of the federal government shutdown,” according to a statement on the state’s website. “As of 5 a.m. ET on Nov. 14, 2025, all previously scheduled November SNAP benefits have been issued to eligible recipients.” 

Second Harvest Food Bank is a nonprofit that collects and distributes food to more than 870 providers across seven counties, including in Seminole County. Greg Higgerson, the chief development officer for Second Harvest, said that while EBT cards are being reloaded now, people will often miss paying other bills or go into credit card debt to pay for food.

“Even though they’re being reloaded now, likely people have a different kind of hole to dig themselves out of financially,” Higgerson said. “There’s kind of an economic tail. People have to dig themselves out of a hole.”

Second Harvest typically distributes about 300,000 meals per day. That number ratcheted up by 10% to 20% during the shutdown. But with all the meals Second Harvest delivers, SNAP feeds even more – for every one meal they provide, SNAP provides nine, he said. 

Second Harvest hosts a Food Finder tool on its website. During the shutdown, searches on where to find pantries using that tool went from the typical 1,500 per week to more than 10,000 per week. 

“There’s clearly a lot of first timers,” Higgerson said. “That we could scale up to meet that need is kind of a fantasy. The good news is the community stepped up in ways that have allowed us to get more food out the door.”

Seminole County has been seeing an increase in students experiencing homelessness over the last three years. Autumn Garick, vice chair of Seminole County Public Schools, said that during the recent shutdown there was coordination between the nonprofits serving people in need. 

Those include The Sharing Center in Longwood, Christian Help in Casselberry and the school district’s Families in Need office.

“It was really heartwarming to see the collaboration between the variety of nonprofits throughout the area,” Garick said. “The reality is also we have employees that also need these services and this help. The need out there is just great.”

Randy Deavers with Inasmuch Food Bank in Geneva said their food bank is what’s called a “free choice” food bank. The food bank, which is attached to the Geneva Community Church of God, lets people go through and select what items they need, including deli items, produce and frozen meats.

During the shutdown, the charity ballooned from serving 50 to 60 families per week at two events to 127 families. 

“It’s just exploded,” Deavers said. “We see the ones who don’t have transportation and will ride their bike 5 miles to the pantry, and others who will drive from south Orlando. I don’t know why people drive to us, but they do.” 

So what can people do to help? For Deavers, the biggest need is volunteer help and refrigerator and freezer storage space. 

Higgerson with Second Harvest echoed that sentiment – volunteers are needed everywhere, and most pantries also need food donations. 

“And I’m sure they would welcome financial donations as well, because this is the time of year when they need it the most,” Higgerson said. “Let’s face it, they try to do more for their clients this time of year.”

The Sharing Center in Longwood posted on its website that the shutdown was projected to drive a 40% increase in need for its services, creating a $75,000 funding gap. 

More than meals

For Jessica, she thinks about the kindness people at the Inasmuch Food Pantry have shown her over the years. One worker gave her socks when she was pregnant. 

“They’re very kind,” Jessica said about the pantry. “They make you feel like family. We get most of the things we need from them.”

Joseph is another Inasmuch pantry client. He said the people working there will keep the pantry open for him if he’s late to pick up food. 

 Joseph is another church member who’s been using the Inasmuch pantry for the last few years.

He works in landscaping, and lives with a disabled mother and his father who’s on social security. Joseph, who said he’s never been a SNAP recipient, said life without the church and the pantry would be “very stressful.”

“They definitely have been picking up the slack,” Joseph said. “I don’t know what I would do if we didn’t have the use of the food pantry. Things have been more expensive [and] with the tariffs, it’s making it harder as well.” 

Joseph said he doesn’t really follow politics or the government shutdown. He said one bright spot: The price of gas has come down recently. 

“The pantry fills the void,” Joseph said. “With the high prices at the stores, the pantry helps. It’s enough to get you through to the next week.”

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member