With SNAP benefits delayed and government workers going without pay, some Houston-area restaurants are offering a safety net. Local businesses are handing out free kids’ meals and relief deals for furloughed federal workers until financial support returns.

The Houston Food Bank, along with other anti-hunger organizations, prepares for the surge in demand they expect will come with the end of SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 due to the government shutdown.

Millions of Texans won’t receive their SNAP benefits starting November 1 as the government shutdown drags on. The Houston Food Bank is stepping in to help.

Texas is home to 254 counties—more than any other U.S. state—and has wide disparities in SNAP enrollment. According to a September 2025 report from Texas Health and Human Services, Lamar County had the highest enrollment at 29.5 percent of residents, while King County had the lowest at 0.7 percent.

Beginning in November, SNAP will undergo new eligibility changes, including but not limited to work requirements and immigration status.

Employed single mothers who make less than $41,000 per year rely on about $400 a month in government assistance to feed their children. But as the federal The Houston Food Bank's call volume has spiked since the federal government announced it would not be releasing SNAP benefits in November.

The potential SNAP benefit delay could increase growing hunger crisis in Texas, a state which has the highest population of food insecure people in the U.S.

"I never thought in a million years I'd be in line to get some food," one federal employee told ABC13 at a Houston Food Bank distribution. Many in line were receiving food assistance for the first time in their lives.