Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) (seventh from right) with volunteers from the New Hampshire Food Bank during the Nov. 7 drive-thru food pantry on Lock Street in Nashua. Courtesy photo

NASHUA – Hundreds of families in Greater Nashua were left scrambling six days after funding was discontinued for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

This resulted in a line of more than 250 cars and residents waiting approximately one hour in the BAE Systems parking lot for the mobile food pantry on Nov. 7.

“I’ve done this mobile many times and this is way more,” said Courtney Webster, vice president of Acts of Kindness, a nonprofit organization in Manchester.

She said the New Hampshire Food Bank sends one truck to fill the inventory needs at this mobile food pantry. This time, two trucks were needed.

For the past eight years, Webster has been working to ensure residents have enough to eat. However, the stream of cars pouring into the BAE parking lot was something she had never witnessed.

Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) speaks with Courtney Webster, vice president of Acts of Kindness, during the Nov. 7 drive-thru food pantry on Lock Street in Nashua. Courtesy photo

“Seeing this influx is heartbreaking,” said Webster.

Later in the day on Nov. 7, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported that SNAP payments were being processed. Partnering with the New Hampshire Food Bank, the DHHS allocated $2 million for SNAP at the end of October.

President Donald Trump used the government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, as the reason why SNAP funding ran out on Nov. 1.

However, Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) said the government shutdown has nothing to do with SNAP.

“Right now, it’s the fiction of ‘we’re in a shutdown,'” she said. “It’s a lawless, reckless move.”

However, the government must re-open before Goodlander and her colleagues can take any significant action.

“Until then, he’s going to continue to mess around,” she said, adding that this was Trump’s plan since he took office in January. “He set out to take a wrecking ball to a program that’s a lifeline. It’s cruel and senseless.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 76,900 Granite Staters rely on SNAP — within that figure, 47,678 are children.

Not including the current shutdown, Goodlander said Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) determined there was no more important business after H.R. 1 was signed into law on July 4. As a result, she said the House has been out of session for more than 100 days during the past four months.