The upcoming SNAP suspension will impact more than 1.3 million North Carolinians. Here's our guide to food resources ...

By Eli Chen
Published October 29, 2025 at 10:00 AM EDT
As the government shutdown nears the month's end, many families across North Carolina are bracing for a lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Across the state, 1.34 million North Carolinians are SNAP recipients, according to N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. That costs between $230 million and $250 million each month in federal funds that are sent to states to administer the program. About 580,000 children, including about 43,000 infants, are among the program’s beneficiaries.

In the Triangle area, more than 151,000 people in Durham, Wake, Orange, Chatham, and Johnston counties rely on SNAP, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services' September 2025 data.

N.C. DHHS officials said in a release Monday that they were directed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to delay issuing SNAP benefits for the month of November due to the federal shutdown. As of Monday, the state agency said they had not received federal funding for the program. DHHS officials also noted that it does not have funding to maintain benefits past early November for the 262,000 people who rely on WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which provides healthy food, infant formula, and nutrition education for women, mothers, and young children.
Snip...
https://www.wunc.org/2025-10-29/families-could-start-losing-access-to-head-start-if-shutdown-continues