The federal government is reopening, but the need for food assistance, job help and other resources among government workers in Montgomery County won’t subside soon.

Many federal workers in the county were facing financial hardship before the longest shutdown in history. Going without pay for 44 days — and likely for several more days due to federal pay schedules — has exacerbated their struggles.

This means the county government and its nonprofit partners don’t have any plans to wind down programs set up to help federal employees.

Heather Bois Bruskin, director of the county’s Office of Food Systems Resilience, said demand at food banks countywide has roughly doubled. Food bank organizers have said that federal workers have been among the largest groups seeking food assistance for the first time.

Bruskin also said she knows federal workers who say they’re not expecting to get paid for another week.

“They’re still experiencing the struggle of the shutdown, even though the government is reopened, even though they’ve been asked to go back to work,” she said.

County Council members have proposed a $7.75 million addition to the county budget, about $3.5 million of which will go to a network of about 50 organizations to help them handle the demand.

Officials first announced the proposal more than two weeks ago, but the County Council is scheduled to vote to approve the funding on Tuesday.

Council president Kate Stewart said she expects demand for these programs will only increase.

“Reopening the federal government is just the first step for countless residents who have depleted their savings and had to turn to Montgomery County’s social safety net services to make ends meet for their families,” Stewart said in a statement.

The government reopening won’t change the resources offered at the county’s federal workforce career center, either.

Anthony Featherstone, executive director of WorkSource Montgomery, which operates the career center, said some federal workers still fear they could lose their jobs, particularly when the spending agreement that reopened the government expires on Jan. 31, 2026.

There will continue to be food drives at the career center in Wheaton, too. Nearly 100 federal workers went to the first drive at the center on Nov. 10.

WorkSource and Manna Food Center, the largest food distribution organization in the county, are scheduled to hold additional food drives for federal workers and contractors on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5.

“Although the government did open today — which was positive — we don’t foresee that there’s gonna be any less need,” he said.