NEW ULM – As the federal government shutdown continues, the New Ulm Area Emergency Food Shelf is offering a new Bakery Giveaway program.

The Bakery Giveaway will be held twice a week from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays.

The Bakery Giveaway is an extension of the Food Shelf’s normal offerings. New Ulm Food Shelf executive director Brad Kirk said normally, clients of the food shelf are able to visit the food shelf once a month. The Bakery Giveaway will not count as a normal food shelf visit. There are no limits to the number of times a visitor comes to the Bakery Giveaway.

“They can come as often as they want for this and there are no restrictions on who uses it,” Kirk said. “This is for anyone who needs help. You do not need to be a client or even live in New Ulm to use this.”

The Bakery Giveaway offers all types of bakery goods, including breads, but also rolls and doughnuts. Kirk said the emphasis is on bakery products because the food shelf has an abundance of these items and is able to give them out to those in need.

Kirk said the program will also provide other products as part of the giveaway based on supply. Tuesday was the first day of the program. Kirk said in addition to bread products, they were able to give out apples, squash, mashed potatoes, deli and other sandwich items.

“It will change every time based on what we have in abundance,” Kirk said.

The Bakery Giveaway was started in response to the government shutdown. In October, it was announced that the shutdown could halt payment to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in November. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Trump administration would partially fund SNAP benefits through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) contingency fund.

With the cuts to SNAP, there is concern area food shelves will see greater use to fill in the gap for families in need.

Kirk confirmed that on Monday, the New Ulm Food Shelf saw a higher number of families than normal. He said on a normal Monday, the food shelves see around 21 client families, but this Monday, there were 36 families coming in for food.

Thursday is the second time the New Ulm Food Shelf will hold its Bakery Giveaway program. Kirk said the program is still new and not many people are aware of it, but he expects usage to increase.

Kirk said the goal is to keep the program in place as long as the shutdown and lasts, but schedule changes could occur based on supply and demand.