10/23/2025

In Maryland, the Shutdown Is Sending Federal Workers to Local Food Banks

Once again, nonprofits step up when the government fails its people

The Capital Area Food Bank started the morning with 300 boxes, enough for 150 families to receive two boxes each. They ran out halfway through distribution.

Cheers erupted as another truck backed into the shopping center parking lot. Federal workers, in a line that wrapped around the shopping center and into the neighborhood, clapped and cheered at the sight of reinforcements arriving at the emergency food distribution site.

It is nearly a month into the government shutdown. In Prince George's County, home to more than 60,000 federal workers, the sight was staggering: Middle-class professionals lined up for boxes of pasta, protein, and produce to feed their families.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WAMU-88.5 American University Radio.