Jimmy Chen

Jimmy Chen runs a small tech company called Propel.

It makes a free app for people on the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

About 5 million people use Propel's app, meaning that Chen sees just how much the delayed payments are hurting their families.

So Propel teamed up with a nonprofit, GiveDirectly, to run a crowdfunding campaign.

This weekend, they started giving $50 each to Propel users with little or no income and kids to feed.

We understand that $50 is not enough.

It's not enough to help a family afford food for a whole month or anything even close.

But until the government fully restores SNAP payments, he's hoping that it makes a little bit of a difference.

Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York.