This I Argue
Bridging the Gap
As long as you’re not starving, our job’s been well done. This is how SNAP views its poverty stricken lower class citizens. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program better known by its acronym SNAP is, as stated by www.centeronbudget.org “the nation’s most important anti-hunger program.” Yet it hinders lower class single working mothers from becoming empowered, independent model citizens. Barbie Izquierdo, introduced in the documentary A Place At the Table, struggled with hunger, while attempting to care for herself and her two small children. Food insecurity, not having the necessary financial stability to support a household’s healthy diet, plagues one in every seven Americans. Partly because our food assistance program has an inefficient system of only supporting those who do not work and drastically cutting the funds of the hard working single parents who have jobs but only receive minimum wage and cannot support themselves and their children. There is a need to bridge the gap between complete dependence on government assistance and working mothers who make too much to qualify, yet do not make enough to survive. Hunger in America is an issue that can be addressed by extending to those recipients a nine month grace period that will allow them to keep their set amount of food stamps until they are stable enough to support themselves.
A Place at the Table documents Barbie’s life starting after the recent loss of her job. Barbie states “The assistance programs in the United States are very hard to qualify for. It’s like either you’re starving or you don’t get any help. But what defines starving? If you don’t eat for a day, are you starving? In their eyes no, but in your eyes, and the way you feel, of course.” (A Place At the Table). Barbie received food stamps that lasted three weeks out of the month, and for the last week, experienced extreme food insecurity. An article by Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News releases a statement from Marianne Smith Vargas chief philanthropy officer at food bank of southeastern Virginia stating, “We are hearing story after story about how a family was making ends meet on what they received in food stamps prior to the cut. Now, even the smallest cut is forcing them to come to the food bank for help.” These food banks are one of many possible solutions that should be offered to starving American families. In a time when federal aids fail to provide a feasible solution, fellow Americans rise to the occasion, and help where they are needed. Opposing politicians argue that if food banks are offered, then there should be less of a need for SNAP. But as helpful as those community outreach programs are, they just do not suffice. The U.S government is financially able to provide recipients with a nine month grace period to adjust to their new lifestyle, they simply need the issue brought to light.
A common myth is that low-income Americans simply do not know how to budget and use SNAP as a crutch, this is false. Mothers such as Barbie Izquierdo do not have a lack of food because she has poor budgeting skills. Barbie and her children cannot afford food because even though she has recently gotten her job, she is not yet financially stable.
The $39 billion budget cut on the SNAP program must be restored in order to end hunger for poverty stricken low-income American families. An article on www.washingtonpost.com states that”Right now, there are roughly 47.7 million Americans on food stamps — a number that swelled during the recession and has only recently started to decline.
The House GOP bill would kick about 3.8 million people off the food-stamp rolls over the course of the upcoming fiscal year that begins in October. That includes 1.7 million unemployed, childless adults aged 18-50. It also includes another 2.1 million families and seniors who have incomes just slightly above the federal food-stamp limits.” These “limits” need to be readjusted. 2.1 million Families that are just barely over the snap limitation do not earn enough to maintain a nutritious diet, especially senior citizens with a slower metabolism who require as many nutrients as possible. 2.1 million Families are food insecure.
The young girls living in these urban areas, are not expected to make much of themselves. “My dream is to go to college, it’s an investment in my future. But at the same time I’m struggling so much everyday to even feed my kids. So it’s really hard to make that decision now. I can’t tell my kids, okay, I’m going to go to school so in two years we’re going to be fine. I can’t tell them, yeah, I’ll make sure you guys eat in two years.” (Barbie Izquierdo) Getting these single mothers back on their feet must be done now! There is an urgency to insure these women the possibility of financial freedom today. This catch twenty-two cycle just won’t do. These young girls have obligations, as well as aspirations for their future. But these goals cannot be fulfilled if they cannot perform the simplest of tasks such as feeding their children. When the first get there job, and immediately get cut from SNAP, they have to spend the majority of there income on bills, then the small portion that is left is just enough to afford them a processed meal such as a Hot Pocket.
“Because I was two dollars over the income limit, I was not even eligible for a dollar in food stamps.” (Barbie Izquierdo) The current standard of ineligibility in the SNAP program is inefficient. Something must be done about the parents who do not make enough money to qualify for assistance, yet still do not earn enough to afford their families a nutritious diet. Starting one family at a time.
A Place at the Table documents Barbie’s life starting after the recent loss of her job. Barbie states “The assistance programs in the United States are very hard to qualify for. It’s like either you’re starving or you don’t get any help. But what defines starving? If you don’t eat for a day, are you starving? In their eyes no, but in your eyes, and the way you feel, of course.” (A Place At the Table). Barbie received food stamps that lasted three weeks out of the month, and for the last week, experienced extreme food insecurity. An article by Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News releases a statement from Marianne Smith Vargas chief philanthropy officer at food bank of southeastern Virginia stating, “We are hearing story after story about how a family was making ends meet on what they received in food stamps prior to the cut. Now, even the smallest cut is forcing them to come to the food bank for help.” These food banks are one of many possible solutions that should be offered to starving American families. In a time when federal aids fail to provide a feasible solution, fellow Americans rise to the occasion, and help where they are needed. Opposing politicians argue that if food banks are offered, then there should be less of a need for SNAP. But as helpful as those community outreach programs are, they just do not suffice. The U.S government is financially able to provide recipients with a nine month grace period to adjust to their new lifestyle, they simply need the issue brought to light.
A common myth is that low-income Americans simply do not know how to budget and use SNAP as a crutch, this is false. Mothers such as Barbie Izquierdo do not have a lack of food because she has poor budgeting skills. Barbie and her children cannot afford food because even though she has recently gotten her job, she is not yet financially stable.
The $39 billion budget cut on the SNAP program must be restored in order to end hunger for poverty stricken low-income American families. An article on www.washingtonpost.com states that”Right now, there are roughly 47.7 million Americans on food stamps — a number that swelled during the recession and has only recently started to decline.
The House GOP bill would kick about 3.8 million people off the food-stamp rolls over the course of the upcoming fiscal year that begins in October. That includes 1.7 million unemployed, childless adults aged 18-50. It also includes another 2.1 million families and seniors who have incomes just slightly above the federal food-stamp limits.” These “limits” need to be readjusted. 2.1 million Families that are just barely over the snap limitation do not earn enough to maintain a nutritious diet, especially senior citizens with a slower metabolism who require as many nutrients as possible. 2.1 million Families are food insecure.
The young girls living in these urban areas, are not expected to make much of themselves. “My dream is to go to college, it’s an investment in my future. But at the same time I’m struggling so much everyday to even feed my kids. So it’s really hard to make that decision now. I can’t tell my kids, okay, I’m going to go to school so in two years we’re going to be fine. I can’t tell them, yeah, I’ll make sure you guys eat in two years.” (Barbie Izquierdo) Getting these single mothers back on their feet must be done now! There is an urgency to insure these women the possibility of financial freedom today. This catch twenty-two cycle just won’t do. These young girls have obligations, as well as aspirations for their future. But these goals cannot be fulfilled if they cannot perform the simplest of tasks such as feeding their children. When the first get there job, and immediately get cut from SNAP, they have to spend the majority of there income on bills, then the small portion that is left is just enough to afford them a processed meal such as a Hot Pocket.
“Because I was two dollars over the income limit, I was not even eligible for a dollar in food stamps.” (Barbie Izquierdo) The current standard of ineligibility in the SNAP program is inefficient. Something must be done about the parents who do not make enough money to qualify for assistance, yet still do not earn enough to afford their families a nutritious diet. Starting one family at a time.