Food banks and pantries were already struggling to supply enough food to users after federal program cuts this year, but now they’re bracing for a possible tsunami of hungry people if a pause in federal food aid to low-income people kicks in this weekend as the federal government shutdown persists.

The rush has already begun. Central Christian Church’s food pantry in downtown Indianapolis scrambled last weekend to accommodate around twice as many people as it normally serves in a day.

“There’s an increased demand. And we know it’s been happening really since the economy has downturned,” volunteer Beth White said, adding that with an interruption in funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, “it’s going to continue to get worse for folks.”

It’s a concern shared by charitable food providers across the country as states prepare for lower-income families to see their SNAP benefits dry up. SNAP helps 40 million Americans, or about 1 in 8, buy groceries.

The debit cards they use to buy groceries at participating stores and farmers markets are normally loaded each month by the federal government.

That’s set to pause at the start of next month after the Trump administration last week said that it won’t use an approximately $5 billion contingency fund to keep food aid flowing in November in the government shutdown.

Charities have seen growing demand since the COVID-19 pandemic and the following inflation spike, and they took a hit earlier this year when the Trump administration ended programs that had provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to fight hunger.