Tovia Smith is an award-winning NPR National Correspondent based in Boston, who's spent more than three decades covering news around New England and beyond.
At one food pantry in Boston, the spike in demand means there's now a two-week wait for some to receive food, stressing needy families as well as pantry staff.
The Trump administration is appealing a federal judge's order that it must provide full SNAP food benefits. The government had been planning to fund only partial payments this month.
A Boston federal judge suggested she was not persuaded by the Trump administration's argument that it is legally barred from using a USDA emergency fund to keep the SNAP benefits coming.