Philanthropists Laura and John Arnold have offered up to $10 million in emergency funding to the National Head Start Association in an effort to keep them open during the government shutdown.

The personal donation will help keep Head Start and Early Head Start programs, who were forced to close or are facing closure, open. The programs service more than 1 million low-income children each year, providing them with meals and health care and getting them ready for elementary school.

On October 1st, 23 programs in 11 states, servicing over 19,000 children were to be funded and are expected to lose that money.