On Friday, two federal judges ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to use contingency funds to continue SNAP benefits; however, it remains unclear when payments will resume.

After the White House asked for additional guidance from the court, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ordered the government to report back by Monday to figure out how to fund SNAP accounts.

Ehlers said his organization had been making plans for gradual reductions to SNAP after the “big beautiful bill” passed in July, but that no one expected a full halt.

“In hindsight, I think actually we maybe should have anticipated this because there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on,” Ehlers said. “This is now a topic where both sides can use it as fuel to make their points on why either Democrats or Republicans are responsible for the issues that the public is facing. And in the meantime of all the finger-pointing, the public is the one who suffers.”

Sharing Excess is also looking for additional volunteers and donations. Ehlers said one truckload, which is roughly 30,000 pounds of food, costs $1,290 and can feed up to 80 families in a month.

“We are asking people to consider sponsoring a truck and helping us to make [an] impact during this time,” Ehlers said. “We can’t do any of these distribution sites without support from the public.”