Sara Busse needed to make a hot meal for 40 needy seniors. She had promised a main dish, a starch, a vegetable, a fruit and a dessert.

In the past, she had gotten many of those ingredients for free from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This time, she had dried cranberries, crackers and vegetable soup.

“What am I supposed to do?” she said. “What am I supposed to cook?”

Sara Busse preparing a meal in the kitchen at Trinity’s Table in Charleston, W. Va., this month.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration cut about $1 billion in federal aid to anti-hunger groups, according to the national advocacy group Feeding America.

That put more pressure on charitable organizations that distribute groceries or meals to hold up their corner of the American safety net, dipping into reserves and scrounging for donations to replace the food they had lost.