Local social service agencies are preparing for a surge in the need for food across the area and are hoping the community will help.

Food pantries, local leaders say, were already strained in recent months; the situation will worsen if the federal SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits are allowed to expire Nov. 1 amid the federal shutdown.

... Catholic Charities of Louisville is seeing a similar strain on its resources in Louisville and in Bardstown, Ky.

Its three pantries have been “experiencing increased demand over the past months,” said Lisa DeJaco Crutcher, CEO of Catholic Charities of Louisville, during an Oct. 29 event.

“We’re seeing more people, and the people who are coming have more need. … On the supply side, unfortunately, we’re seeing less available.”

Come Nov. 1, families and individuals will “be coming to our pantries, where we have already seen increased demand and reduced supply,” DeJaco Crutcher said.

“So we have a really big problem. I am very concerned about what this is going to look like in the space of a couple of weeks.”