On Friday, students packed the food pantry at Brashear High School in Pittsburgh. Every surface in the room was covered with fresh produce, dairy, frozen meat and even hygiene products.
It's a big help for students like Ryan, who said his family relies on the food benefits they receive through SNAP — benefits that were disrupted by the government shutdown.
"My mom said try and get some food to help out the family, so that's what I'm doing today," he explained.
We aren't using full names because the students in this story are minors and we're asking them and their families to discuss their finances.
Friday was Ryan's second time inside the pantry. The junior said he didn't know his school had a food pantry until a couple weeks ago, when his mom got a notification from the school advertising sign-ups.
He said his favorite pantry items so far have been "mainly the ingredients from the fruits and vegetable section." He left with a bag teeming with food, including frozen ground beef and chicken, fresh spinach and a head of cabbage — all ingredients for meals he plans to cook for his family.
"I'm glad that they're doing this," Ryan said. "It's a very big help for families."
It's been a tumultuous few weeks for the nearly 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP — almost 40% of whom are under 18. Amid ongoing court battles, and with Congress considering a resolution to reopen the government, many families still don't know when they'll get their full November food benefits.
Pennsylvania was among the states that started to issue full SNAP benefits to families on Friday, after a court order.
That's when Ryan's family received their full benefits. On Saturday, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture called those payments "unauthorized," and ordered states to claw them back. Pennsylvania has joined other states in challenging that demand in a lawsuit.
A spokesperson for Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, told NPR that the state has "not received anything from the USDA to indicate that Pennsylvanians can't use that money on their card."
But given the uncertainty, Ryan's mom, Roberta, told NPR she's afraid to spend the money. She called the food pantry at her son's high school a "godsend."
"If you're not fed, you're not learning"
The pantry at Brashear is part of Feeding America, a national network that includes more than 200 food banks and nearly 4,900 school-based pantries.
It's open once a week, and each Brashear student who signs up gets about five minutes at the end of the school day to shop before they head home. Any snacks the students don't take often go to teachers, to offer to hungry pupils during the school day.
Brashear health teacher Christine Wolski helped open the pantry last year, in an effort to support student learning.
"If you're not fed, you're not learning," she explained. "So that's one of the reasons why we're hitting this so hard."
Wolski said the school saw an influx of interest in the pantry — and donations — after it became clear the shutdown was going to impact families' SNAP benefits. On Oct. 1, at the beginning of the shutdown, 146 students were signed up to attend the pantry, according to Wolski.
By Nov. 11, that number had reached 224 students, with 1,233 household members served.
"We're getting more and more students because of the SNAP benefits," Wolski said.
Students like 12th grader N., who we're identifying only by his first initial. He came to the pantry to pick up some essentials for the weekend.
"I see what my mom liked last time and what was not wasted," N. said.
Among his favorite items from the pantry are the fresh spinach and the mushrooms. He also picked out some spaghetti squash and pasta sauce, along with ramen for his younger siblings at home.
"'Cause they're very picky," he explained.
N. says his family relies on SNAP to help put food on the table. As of Tuesday afternoon, he said they were still waiting on this month's payment.
And they'll continue to wait — until either the government reopens or the rest of this month's SNAP payments go through.
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