HERMANN — Already hurting from a lack of donations to feed its regular list of applicants, the Hermann Food Pantry is bracing for a major increase in food requests county residents who will lose their food stamp benefits in November.

Bartow Malloy of the Hermann Food Pantry Tuesday morning told the Gasconade County Republican that her organization is preparing to handle a 30- to 50-percent increase in applications for the mid-November distribution of food, thanks to Missouri responding to the federal government shutdown by not issuing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, commonly referred to as Food Stamps, for November.

“We had an emergency board meeting yesterday to come up with an action plan,” Malloy said, referring to a plan for accommodating what’s expected to be a rush of food applications from residents who lose the SNAP benefits.

“One of the things we are going to do is for SNAP recipients we are going to have a special day for them to get their food,” she said.

The normal distribution of food takes place on the third Wednesday of the month at Hermann City Hall. The day set aside for SNAP recipients and the process are explained on the Hermann Food Pantry’s Facebook site.

A substantial increase in the number of residents needing food is all but a certainty, Malloy said, noting that the Missouri Department of Social Services “is advising SNAP recipients to go to their food pantries” for assistance. She said she’s expecting as much as a 50-percent increase in applications. Those applications, which are available at City Hall, are due to be submitted by Friday, Nov 7.

“We are preparing for a lot of walk-ins,” she added.

And that will put further stress on an organization already being squeezed by the economy that is affecting the generosity of pantry supporters.

“Our donations are down,” Malloy told the Republican.

And the long-term financial stability of the organization has been weakened by the lack of donations and the increased cost of making food purchases that supplement the items donated.

“We’re currently considering (the food pantry) to be in crisis mode,” she said. “We try to keep six months worth of funding (on hand), but we’re way below our threshold.” said Malloy.

Malloy said she’s as frustrated as anyone else who’s been food shopping lately.

“I go to the grocery store and I can’t believe how much food costs,” she said.

How much longer the federal shutdown lasts and how much it might affect the SNAP program is unclear. What is clear to Malloy is that, at least in the near future, things aren’t going to get a lot better.

“Between the economy and the shutdown, we’re going to be hurting,” she said.

(For more on the cuts to SNAP benefits and a look at the needs at the Hermann pantry site, see related stories on page 16).