BATON ROUGE - After state lawmakers announced a plan to pay for SNAP benefits during the federal government shutdown, it became apparent that not everyone currently receiving SNAP in Louisiana would be covered. As an alternative, Gov. Jeff Landry encouraged people in need to head to food banks.

Mike Manning with The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank says on average, in a month, more than 50,000 people use their services, and he's expecting a substantial increase after the state announced SNAP benefits would not be made available to all state SNAP recipients.

During the late October special legislative session, Gov. Landry and lawmakers leaned on the Louisiana Department of Health to provide emergency state-funded assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the elderly, disabled, or children.

As of September, 792,796 Louisianans receive SNAP benefits, but under the order, "households consisting only of able-bodied adults will not receive state-funded assistance." 53,164 people using SNAP in Louisiana are considered able-bodied adults, and the governor encouraged that group to rely on food banks.

"The intention is that we're not covering able-bodied adults," LDH Secretary Bruce Greenstein told reporters Wednesday. "That's the direction we're headed."

On Wednesday, Gov. Landry said funds would be dispersed during the first four days of November.

Manning, with The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, says employees have been fielding calls from people concerned about receiving assistance for the past two weeks as the government shutdown has continued.

"[It's] no different than a hurricane, but people that we're helping on a daily basis are dealing with the disaster of hunger or food instability," Manning said. "It's going to be difficult for us to try to provide that food to more people, you know, the additional demand is going to be tremendously impactful for us."

Thursday morning, the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System announced a $200,000 donation would be split evenly amongst charities in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the donation would be matched dollar-for-dollar by First Lady Sharon Landry's Foundation.

To find a food bank in your area, click here.