ORLANDO, Fla. — The new public charge rule is set to take effect February 24. The possible impact concerns one of the largest Central Florida food banks. 

Here's a breakdown of the public charge rule, and how food banks are responding:

1. What's the public charge rule?

The new public charge rule makes the path towards citizenship more difficult for legal immigrants if they use or are deemed likely to use government assistance programs in the future like SNAP, a food-stamp program.

2. When was it ruled valid?

The rule was originally set to take effect on October 15, 2019 but it was blocked by three lower federal courts. On Monday, January 27, 2020, the Supreme Court voted the public charge rule was valid and will be implemented. 

3. Why are food banks concerned?

Kelly Quintero, Second Harvest Food Bank Director of Advocacy and Government Relations, said the nonprofit's biggest concern is the number of families who may leave SNAP because of the public charge rule. 

"Our biggest concern are immigrant children who might be citizens already but their parents might be stuck in that legal system right now," she said. "We've seen the decrease across the country where these parents are choosing to not apply to SNAP."

4. Will food banks be enough?

Second Harvest Food Bank serves 550 feeding partners in six Central Florida counties. It helps feed 58,000 people each day. But, Quintero said it's not enough. 

"For every meal Second Harvest puts into the community, SNAP puts out nine," she said.

That means the nonprofit would need to produce almost nine times as much food as it does now to make up the difference if people leave SNAP.

5. What kind of help will food banks need?

Quintero said they will never turn any way away who needs help with hunger relief. She said the nonprofit would need more help from the community either with more monetary donations, more food donations, or more volunteers to help fill the gap, or else there will be a strain on the food bank financially.

"We got to look at our budgets and see what programs we have to cut or put a hold on them so we can meet that need," she said.

One of those programs that could be impacted is the culinary training program that's helped many turn their lives around.

Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics reports there are 1.3 million legal immigrants who live in Florida.