You’re single, working several part-time jobs to keep your head above water. Or you’re married but no children. Both you and your spouse work full-time hours plus, but one of you loses their job and is having a hard time finding another one that pays the same. Or you’re married and one of you is on disability. It’s time to decide – electricity or groceries? Medication or groceries? Rent or groceries? What would you do if you had an extra $16 for that month?
About 10 years ago, my husband, daughter and I were living in the Black Hills of South Dakota, not the most job-friendly place if your primary employment is house painting. During that winter, I was working 2 jobs but my husband couldn’t work due to the weather, unless he wanted to work in one of the casinos, which neither of us wanted him to do. I was working away at my computer while my husband and daughter were making dinner – or at least trying to make dinner. There wasn’t anything in the house but a stick of butter, 3 pieces of bread, some flour and one potato. I can tell you – on that day, we definitely could have used $16.
While I continued to work, hubby and daughter scoured every coat pocket, under every cushion, every vehicle to scrape up what they could and came up with $18. They went down to the local store and were able to buy enough for us to have healthy, well-balanced meals for the next 3 days. See what you can do with just a little?
At that time, we could definitely have qualified for SNAP, but we figured we didn’t qualify, especially since my daughter was not considered a “child” under SNAP guidelines. Essentially, we had 3 adults living in the house. So we never applied; it really didn’t even cross our minds to apply. After all, aren’t food stamps for the homeless or those who aren’t working? Isn’t it just for families with children?
We were wrong … and prideful. There’s a social stigma that comes with SNAP as well, especially if you’re single or have no children. When you pull out your SNAP card, which most states have, you feel like everyone can see you don’t have enough money to buy groceries and you feel judged – you’re lazy, you’re not working hard enough or you’re trying to put one over on the system. But that’s just not the case. As a matter of fact, over 50% of those eligible for SNAP never even apply! That means 50% of the eligible people, at least in Texas, go hungry because of pride, lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the income limits.
The $16 we keep talking about is the minimum available under SNAP in Texas; you could qualify for more, depending on your income. If you’re single, you could do a lot with an extra $16 a month. If there are only two of you, you could definitely make use of the extra $16 a month. There’s no shame in asking for help, no matter what your Depression-era parents told you. We’re all facing horrible economic times, with so many losing their homes, jobs and hope.
And if you’re one of those judging folks on SNAP, especially if it doesn’t look like they have kids, what’s your issue with it? Were you raised by the same Depression-era parents who considered those on food stamps lazy? Or is your pride keeping you from asking for help? How many missing paychecks would it take for you to end up needing help?
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Agreed: there is no shame in accepting help, and SNAP is a social program that each of us helps pay for with our yearly taxes. If you’re in need, why not apply?
I think the $16 minimum is a bit disheartening, though. I think it can and should be higher, because there is plenty of food to go around here in America. If people on the SNAP program also typically supplement their groceries with items from food pantries, it makes me wonder why they aren’t just given some basic staples every month as part of the SNAP program to begin with? You know, stuff like bread, milk, eggs, cheese, spices, vegetables. That would help make that $16 go a lot further.
I also think there’s a lot of food waste happening in our country. Big grocery store chains throw away tons of food at the end of every day. Why isn’t there a law against this type of corporate waste? Why aren’t they responsible enough to deliver the day-old bread (still good, not stale — just not up to their exacting standards of “baked fresh daily”) to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or food pantry, where it will be put to good use? I think the SNAP program is a great start, but there needs to be more involvement between producers of food and consumers to make sure that nothing is going to waste just because one can’t make a profit.
I do agree that the $16 is low, but when you consider what you can get at a farmer’s market or a discount store, plus, as you said, supplement it with food from the food bank, the $16 could make a difference. Stay tuned tomorrow for more info on that.