BATON ROUGE - Outstanding Mature Girlz will be opening its food pantry on Friday at the BREC Jackson Community Center in Baton Rouge. 

The pantry aims to help families who lack access to nutritional food options by offering a variety of food items for free.  

"We invite everyone who is in need of assistance to come out. Together, we can strengthen our community and ensure that no one goes hungry," Outstanding Mature Girlz Founder Sashika Baunchand said. 

This comes as Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency to help fund Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits for the elderly, disabled and children, funds that will be cut off if the government shutdown continues into November.

The food pantry will be open from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

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