(Radio Iowa) – Low-income Iowa families who rely on the Women, Infants and Children — or WIC — program for putting food on the table may need to make other arrangements — if — the federal government shuts down this weekend. Shelby Kroona, Hamilton County’s public health director, issued a warning to the county’s board of supervisors about the looming shutdown on Saturday.

“I want to highlight that 324 families in Hamilton County are served by our WIC program,” Kroona says, “and they are saying that that program will potentially shut down in days.” WIC is administered through the U-S Department of Agriculture and Kroona says it’s important to many thousands of families statewide.

“This is a program specifically for food-insecure individuals,” she says, “so the demand on our food pantries may see a significant increase if the government does shut down.” The six food pantries in Hamilton County are bracing for an upturn in demand, though demand has been setting repeated records since the onset of the pandemic.

Reports show WIC program services are used in all 99 Iowa counties and reached more than 64-thousand participants in 2020.