ST. LOUIS – A shocking order from the Trump administration as the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memo Monday directing government agencies to pause all federal loans and grants.

Within minutes of Tuesday’s deadline of 4 p.m. Central, a federal judge intervened and issued a temporary stay, delaying the freeze until 4 p.m. Central on Monday, Feb. 3.

How could the federal freeze affect local organizations?

“We’re feeling kind of shock and horror and fear for the families that we’re serving,” Molly Brown, St. Louis Crisis Nursery CEO, said.

Brown said the organization serves more than 3,000 local families each year, 90% of which live below the federal poverty line. While the nursery itself doesn’t currently receive federal funds, the families it helps do. It’s the impact on them that she fears.

“Our kids deserve to have a place to sleep at night,” Brown said. “They deserve to have a bed and a pillow and somewhere safe. They deserve to have, you know, access to food, access to medical care.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took questions on the funding freeze in her first media briefing Tuesday.

The funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars, at least temporarily, and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs, and other initiatives. Grants that have been awarded but not spent are also supposed to be halted.

Leavitt claimed many important programs citizens depend on would not be touched.

“Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause,” she said.

“The reason for this is to ensure that every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the freeze “more lawlessness and chaos in America.”

“In an instant, with no precedent, no justification, no legal grounds, Donald Trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars that help American families every single day,” he said.

For local families in need, it’s an uncertain time.

“It really could impact the overall well-being of people in our community, you know, neighbors and kids at your kids’ school, and you know people that we know are going to be impacted by this,” Brown said.

Healing Action Network (HAN), a St. Louis organization that helps survivors of human trafficking, reached out to FOX 2 News late Tuesday afternoon to say their federal funds had been frozen.

HAN relies on federal funding to provide trauma care, housing assistance, and other support services. The organization fears trafficking survivors will have longer wait times and fewer resources.

Prior to the federal judge’s temporary stay, HAN representatives told FOX 2 they’re hoping the community will donate to them to help bridge the funding gap.