PHARR – Families under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefit program are being affected by the government shutdown.

KRGV’s Christian Colón spoke with a Rio Grande Valley resident affected financially by the government shutdown.

Fabiola Alvarez says she benefits from the SNAP food program.

Alvarez was given her benefits for the month of February and was told to spread those benefits out.

She says she lost her only source of income since her employers were federal employees affected by the shutdown.

“In my case, I clean homes and clean yards. I clean so I am getting affected because I can't keep up with payments like it should be,” she says.

The manager of grants and advocacy for the Food Bank of the RGV, Omar Rodriguez, says these are the times where pantry managers must pay attention to what is going on, even though the government re-opened.

For more information, watch the video above.