November's pause in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits had families scrambling for food. One woman in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said she was not just worried about her next meal but also her neighbors.

In June, at a grocery store near her Warminster home, Michelle Sims said she was worried about the passage of a massive spending bill that now calls for eventual cuts in SNAP food benefits.

"If you have to cut something, that would be the last thing that you should cut is food that people need to live," she said.

Then, she said, the government shutdown shut out her November SNAP allowance.

"I get $292 in food stamps," Sims said, "and it has to last a whole entire month."

That is why Sims already visited the Warminster Food Bank after she used up her monthly SNAP benefits. But after getting no benefits in November, she said she started relying on the food bank completely.

"I worry about everybody else," Sims said. "I want to think about taking less because I was so worried about other people not getting enough."

Michael Cerino, the executive director of the food bank, was worried, too.

Cerino says in August, the food bank served 71 families a week. That number went up to 81 a week in September. He said 105 families came through the door before the first week of November ended, after news of the SNAP suspension.

"Appointments used to be, like, 24 hours out," he said. "When you need food, you don't want to wait two-and-a-half weeks. But, that's where we are right now."

But because of a flood of community donations, he could keep food on the shelves — for the time being.

"The crisis is going to reverberate long after this is over," he said. "Because it's going to take people time for them to catch up and get up to where they have to be."

That is why Sims hoped her SNAP benefits could be released as soon as possible.

"I really do," Sims said. "The sooner the better. For everyone."

While SNAP recipients waited for partial benefits, food-bank volunteers scrambled to serve those waiting nervously for food.