Cuts to Food Stamps

“SNAP has helped me out several times in my life. In college, it's how I ate. Now, I use it to help me buy food since I live paycheck to paycheck.” -SNAP recipient, Hub patron


In March, President Trump proposed $193 billions dollars in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. These massive cuts would be a drastic blow to one of the most effective hunger and poverty prevention programs in the United States. A program that has:

• Lifted millions of households out of poverty: SNAP kept 10.3 million people out of poverty in 2012, including 4.9 million children.

• Helped families put nutritious food on the table.

• Promoted long-term health and well-being, especially for children.

• Provided a valuable safety-net, both during economic downturn and natural disasters.

In Indiana:

• It kept 224,000 Hoosiers out of poverty, including 111,000 children, per year between 2009 and 2012

How will these cuts affect Hoosiers in Monroe County?

In Monroe County, over 25,000 community members experience food insecurity - the second highest rate of food insecurity in the state of Indiana. Of those families and individuals, nearly 8,000 receive SNAP benefits, and it serves as a valuable resource for putting food on the table.


If these funding cuts go into effect, thousands of Hoosiers will no longer be able to afford a healthy diet. Nearly 75% of SNAP benefits go to households with children or have someone with a disability. While we would hope these would be the last groups to be affected by any changes, there is no guarantee when such a large sum of money is involved. If federal funds are cut, we will be unable to count on the state of Indiana to fill the gap with a tight state budget.


If SNAP benefits got cut...“[i]t would make it harder to pay the bills on time. Either a bill wouldn't be paid or I would sacrifice food for bills. I make less than what I owe. I am very fortunate to have found resources for food from my friends, from growing my own food, and from organizations like the Hub, but many people in a worse situation really struggle. They will get very low quality food if enough food at all.”


Sources:

https://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/the-real-benefits-of-the-snap-program/

https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/snap_factsheet_indiana.pdf

Debate Surrounding SNAP Choice

There has been quite lot of talk recently about what SNAP beneficiaries choose to buy with their benefits. The conversation has particularly focused on condemning the purchase of items like soda and sweetened drinks. There is no question that the article - which reignited this debate over whether or not SNAP beneficiaries should be able to buy what they want - manipulated and misrepresented data in order to perpetuate an unfavorable narrative. As a result, many organizations fired back in an attempt to set the record straight, arguing that the findings of the USDA report actually conclude that “SNAP recipients and other households generally make the same purchases.”

It is important that we are aware of these attempts to delegitimize a program that helps keep millions of Americans from going hungry. The debates over SNAP purchases represent the paternalistic nature of our safety net system, and it shifts the public discussion from open access to strict oversight. We cannot support those aiming to escape poverty by dictating what they can and cannot do, and in a society that values free choice that includes allowing people to choose what they want to buy.

SNAP is often one of the most vilified public programs in the country, and this misrepresentation of data is becoming more common with regard to this program. In January of 2017, a report began circulating that claimed $70 million of SNAP money has been fraudulently spent. Even if we accept this premise - which many observers refuse to do, as the article cited a USDA report that apparently does not exist - opponents of SNAP fail to acknowledge that this is a $71 billion program, and with a fraudulent spending rate of 0.09% SNAP would actually be one of the most effective federal programs in existence today. But the numbers resonate, and that is what SNAP critics want. Opponents depend on these misrepresentations to further reinforce the stigmas that haunt people who apply to receive assistance; it legitimizes the “us and them” narrative that opponents rely on to justify draconian cuts to safety net programs.

The problem is that this is not a situation where we should be emphasizing “us and them.” Even if the claims of the article were true why is the first thought that this is an example of SNAP beneficiaries gaming the system? Why is this proof that individuals and families receiving SNAP cannot be trusted to make decisions for themselves? The question we should be asking is why aren’t we subsidizing healthy food options on top of providing SNAP benefits? Why are we okay with the fact that a bag of chips costs half as much as a bag of vegetables? And why are we criticizing people who are making the economical decision to budget their spending based solely on costs? Policy and political rhetoric revolve around the economics of decision-making - that smart individuals will take advantage of the market as it currently exists. Successful business people are often seen as those who cut the deal to get the most at the cheapest cost to themselves. How is that any different than what SNAP users have to do when purchasing food? Why do we judge SNAP beneficiaries on a different scale than we do businessmen?

Part of the mission of the Hub is providing food in a dignified manner; being told what you can and cannot eat is a demoralizing and undignified experience, and it contributes to the persistence of cycles of poverty and food insecurity. We want people to care about the quality of the food they eat, but that should not be done by telling people what to buy - it should be done by making quality foods the economical choice. In a perfect America, we would subsidize healthier options instead of dictating what SNAP beneficiaries can buy, but it is clear that our current environment will make this a difficult goal to achieve. We must be wary of attempts to isolate or differentiate those who find themselves in need of public assistance. The ramifications of legislating our idea of what it means to live in poverty and what people living in poverty should look like would spread well beyond a further entrenchment of the preconceived notions that plague SNAP beneficiaries. If we perpetuate the mentality that there is a specific mold that people living in poverty need to fit, that there is some other way that we can differentiate them from us to make them feel like less than a person, then we have failed as a society.

Fresh, Local Produce in our Food Pantry--Even in Winter!

Thanks to The Healthful Food For All Fund, Mondays are looking good in the Hub Food Pantry. Our produce table is piled high with the freshest most beautiful food available anywhere! This week featured Cauliflower (in three colors!) oak leaf lettuce, diakon radishes, winter carrots (the sweetest kind!) turnips, kale, cress, scallions, spinach, apples and more.

The Healthful Food For All Fund (HFFAF) is a program that pays farmers half price for remaining produce that they wish to sell at the end of the winter farmers' market each Saturday, then donates that food to Mother Hubbard's Cupboard and other area non-profits. It is a win-win situation, if there ever was one; farmers don't take as big of a hit for food they didn't sell at market, and Bloomington families experiencing food insecurity get high quality produce during the winter months when fresh food is scarce.

HFFAF is run by a committee of the Bloomington Winter Farmers' Market, and is affiliated with The Center for Sustainable Living. This year, with a generous $10, 000 matching grant challenge from a private family foundation, the program has more funding available than ever before. More farmers are participating as well, and they also obtain fresh greens from Growing opportunities, a hydroponic greenhouse program run by The South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP).

To learn more about the program, or to make a donation, stop by the info table at the Winter Farmers' Market, or contact healthfulfoodfund at gmail dot com.

Coffee Talk with the Hub

The Hub’s first week of Coffee Talk focused on the upcoming Republican and Democratic debates. Although we are still a year out from the general election we are already being inundated with an unseemly amount of political attacks and a barrage of calculated positions that lead many feeling jaded with the system as a whole, actively trying to find ways to avoid any mention of Republicans, Democrats, or debates. 

But we also know that there will not be a more opportune time to get involved in the discussion that surrounds the injustices that many in our community face on a daily basis. Even though the topics we discussed often strayed away from those directly involving the food security, these issues are all intimately connected, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to wholly address one issue without making note of another.

We asked folks participating in Coffee Talk to submit a question that they would want the Presidential candidates to address, and we got a wide variety of responses:

-How do you plan to boost the economy without sacrificing the environment, local communities, local food systems, and the poorest citizens?

-What are you going to do to stimulate the economy?

-What qualifies you to be the next President of the United States?

-How would you provide health insurance if you repeal Obamacare?

-How do you plan to address the income inequality plaguing the middle class? How will you help those stuck in poverty?

-The student loan crisis is quickly becoming one of the biggest threats to the younger generations’ futures. Do you have a plan to help alleviate the financial pressure today’s students are under?

-What candidate is, in your opinion, best suited to deal with problems that future generations will face (aside from yourself)?

-What is your affiliation with Agribusiness?

-What are you going to do to help the vets?

-How will you address the Farm Bill in terms of loss of American jobs and the rise of health issues, especially childhood obesity and diabetes?

-If elected President, what would your stance be on childhood nutrition and offering healthy foods in schools? Would you want to expand nutrition standards or loosen them?

Perhaps most important was the personal context that was given to many of the issues mentioned above; hearing the stories of some of our patrons gave us insight into the distressing amount of difficulties faced when experiencing food insecurity, and it made these oftentimes incomprehensible issues relatable on a personal level. It became possible to begin drawing connections between the healthcare system, agricultural subsidies, nutrition, student loans, and veterans’ issues that we have to deal with every day.  We look forward to more conversations over coffee and muffins, and to identifying actions we can take to address injustice.

A Plot of Community Food Security: one patron’s story

Here at the Hub we’re always encouraging folks to grow food at home, or in community gardens. We provide education and tools for gardening in our workshops and tool share program. We also promote the benefits of home food preservation, to extend the harvest beyond the growing season and into the winter months. One of MHC’s patrons, Pearl Patton, is doing just that.

Pearl and Carl in front of the giant bed of beans in Pearl's garden.

A few of the jars of beans Pearl has already pressure canned this summer.

With the help of friends, family and neighbors, Pearl, age 72, planted the plot next to her house with corn, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, two varieties of bush beans, and cabbage.  Last week she called on her community to help with the snap bean harvest, and has already canned thirty-five quarts with several pairs of hands picking and prepping.

“People are good to me,” Pearl admits.

She shares the food with her helpers and has donated beans to the MHC Food Pantry through the Plant a Row for the Hungry program.

Pearl is retired from 24 years at the Westinghouse plant in Bloomington.

“Those capacitors weigh a hundred pounds. I only weighed one-fifteen,” Pearl reminisces.

She says this is the first year she has planted the whole length of the plot since she gardened with her husband and children many years ago.  She says the high food prices last winter inspired her to expand from the quarter-plot she had been tending in recent years. Her housemate Gordon helped plant the garden and is keeping up with the weeds. Carl, who proxy-shops at the Hub for Pearl each week, spent the day picking beans with her last Saturday. “I’d say we picked twenty gallons, and there’s still more coming,” Carl remarked, shaking his head, “that’s a lot of beans!”

While home gardening and canning may be growing in popularity with a younger crowd, it’s nothing new for Pearl.

“I grew up on a 321 acre farm near Harrodsburg. You had to work or go hungry,” she remembers.

“One time I got the measles and had to stay home from school. My dad said ‘oh good, we got three hundred pounds of taters to plant.’“  Pearl recalls that being out in the early May sun made her measles itch more, but her dad told her, “don’t stop to scratch, keep droppin’ taters.”  The next day she still itched, but decided she’d rather go to school.

Pearl expects to harvest “a truckload” of cucumbers, and plans to donate a portion of those to MHC, as well as any other excess produce she doesn’t put up or give away. Pearl’s garden is a good reminder that building community food security isn’t rocket science, it’s just good ol’ fashioned common sense.