(ABC 6 News) – Amid billions of dollars in federal funding cuts, one Minnesota-based organization is grappling with the loss of critical funding for one of its most vital services.

Related: Governor Tim Walz creates dashboard to track federal funding cuts impacting Minnesota

Wellness in the Woods is a non-profit mental health organization that provide peer support to thousands of Minnesotans every month.

“Meeting someone where they’re at on their journey and being able to use your experience from your own journey,” says Monica Yeadon, the groups director of process and improvement and communications, “It helps people not feel so alone and it helps give them hope to be able to fight.”

Most commonly, that happens through WITW’s Warmline – a free to use phone service where people can call for 20 minutes at a time to talk about whatever’s on their mind.

Kristi (no last name provided for privacy reasons) has been a Warmline operator for eight years.

In that time, she says she’s answered more than 25,000 calls.

“We have callers that call with different paranoia, thinking that the community is all out to get them,” she says. “Callers that call that don’t have any family or friends. They’re just cut off from the world and they’ll tell us if I didn’t have this Warmline I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to throughout the day.”

Last month, federal grants totaling more than $11 billion were cut from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – including $27.5 million that went to Minnesota organizations through the state’s DHS.

Related: Minnesota Department of Health announces layoffs and reduced public health services following federal funding cuts

Wellness in the Woods, which is entirely funded by grant money, lost almost a quarter of a million dollars that specifically supported the Warmline.

“We were issued a stop work order and told to stop all services,” says Yeadon. “Nothing would be paid past March 24.”

Yet despite the order, the group has found other ways to keep the service operational – though severely cut back.

What was once a team of 12 working four hour shifts every night has been cut in half.

Yeadon says the work is critical, sometimes life saving.

“We’ve had people say that they wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for our services,” she says. “We know the work we do is important and we wanted to keep providing it for as long as we possibly can.”

As for Kristi, she sees the direct impact of her work every day, and worries for the people she’s gotten to know over the years.

“They have no one else to talk to,” she says. “We are their lifeline and what are they going to do. That to me is more concerning than anything else.”

Twenty-four states, including Minnesota, have sued the Trump administration to stop these cuts from taking place.

Shortly after the cuts were announced, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, halting the process.

In the meantime, Wellness in the Woods is subsisting off non-discretionary money from another source as an emergency fund to keep the Warmline afloat.

They’re also asking for community support – including hosting one of their first public fundraisers: a memorial walk taking place in May.