There is a lot of uncertainty for programs and benefits that families and local businesses rely on.

After 55 years, Vera's King O Meats continues to be a staple in the Rio Grande Valley community.

Nadia Vera Moralez is a second-generation owner. Her family has grown up in the store, but with half of the business they receive coming from food stamp recipients, she worries about what the future holds.

"Anywhere from 37 to about 40 percent, so 37 to 40 percent are pretty much EBT customers for us," Moralez said. "I am worried, and I am concerned about it all, but I mean I'm hoping to God that it's going to get resolved before then. I mean there's millions of people, there's millions of people that are going to go without."

Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will be put on pause in November if the federal shutdown continues past October 27.

Millions of people will lose their benefits, including shoppers like Margarita Mendez, who relies on food stamps to help feed her four children.

"Before I even received benefits, we would just feed the kids first and whatever the kids left is what we would eat," Mendez said.

Mendez says she's already trying to figure out how she will pick up odd jobs to make up the lost income,

"Well I mean I'm still looking for a job so just continue. If anything, well I don't know, I have a tractor, we could just cut grass I guess," Mendez said.

And Moralez is figuring out ways to cut back expenses before cutting back employees' hours.

"Absolutely, trying everything, everything we can before cutting employees' wages, I mean, not their wages but their hours," Moralez said.

But it's a domino effect that even she is worried she won't be able to escape.

"We, I mean, other than dropping our prices more and more and more, so people can afford it, but then, you know, our lights go out because now we can't afford it, and so, it's just a trickle-down effect," Moralez said.

For both shoppers and business owners, this shutdown is more than politics in Washington, it's about making sure the lights stay on and mouths are fed.

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