Why do we need to have Congress snap to it and fund more SNAP? Here are some stories from the corn crib, or crypt, as it were. People living on their own, and can get by with a bit of help, but still are food addled.
A middle-aged woman I know lost her son and then had to start raising – and thus feeding – on the weekends his two young daughters, who are of mixed ethnic heritage, and therefore follow dietary restrictions where very American staple foods, like sugary cereal, are off limits. On top of this, the woman befriends and thus cooks for a man who is homebound. So to simply say her availability of food is limited is a massive understatement. I’ve helped her, as she sincerely needs it, but honestly she can be picky about certain things, like freshness. However, she will make use of other things, like obscure veggies, that is beyond the scope of most peoples’ cooking. She donates what she can’t use. She always volunteers to bring a dish if she is asked somewhere.
Another middle-aged woman is, I’m quite sure, autism spectrum, and gets about swimmingly with the aid of a walker to the point that shopping is ruled out, and has ineffective usage of her hands. I’d guess that cooking is a challenge, if doable at all, as with her fingers even opening a box might be hard, and she’d have trouble keeping her balance while doing so. A hidden need for her, with these limitations, is that many inexpensive foods are literally and figuratively, just out of her reach.
What would such people do without some types of food assistance that is almost catastrophic? I fear they would fall between the cracks of the food safety net.
This reminds me of the irony of this song overheard on the music played at a local food shelf, Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog, with the “striking” opener of a stanza, “I don’t mind stealin’ bread from the mouths of decadents/But I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already overfilled.” The meaning has been said to be, despite the opening line, take what you need from the excessively rich, but only what you need. I will reflect further: It could be that in the truest emulation of Bob Dylan and much of metal, the song is switching narrators, back to those who have all that they require.
Recently, I have seen that some people have reached out on social media and asked for help, and while some folks are willing to lend a hand, others show pushback. Those needing assistance seem to wait until the last minute before breaking down and asking for it, showing their sincerity in wanted to make it on their own. Unfortunately, most of them delete their posts before someone like myself can answer back. With others, you make contact, but at some point they stop working with the process and quite literally disappear from site. This leaves their potential donors wondering, did they just stop following through? Did something bad happen to them? Did they become embarrassed? Was it a scam? With one young mother, I offered a homecooked meal and thinking there would be no or few gifts for her kids this Christmas, some trinkets for stocking stuffers and admittedly, slightly dated but still wrapped candy canes among the snacks. I thought this would be better then nothing and presented it as such to her in a phone message. She did not call me back.
With myself, having a neurological disability, an unusual form of Tourette Syndrome, I suffer from severe pain and crippling anxiety. I am thankful that there are some foodstuffs that are very good for knocking this pain level down, but they are more expensive than say your average can of vegetables and push a normal food budget to the limit. Chia over corn, is way more costly. Atypical? Certainly. But another situation where you are subject to different living conditions in what you buy from the store.
I have even wondered about scammers and hackers, plying their trade in far flung places. Do some of them have a hungry mouth or two to feed, if say stationed in Siberia? It is like the ridiculous extreme of an actual Third World dungeon master who was asked why he tortures people for a living, and responded that he has a family to support.
On the theme of the cost of living (and dying), a figure was cited by the current administration that they want to get rid of, when all is said and done, almost 13 million immigrants. Is that all the troublemakers in that category there are? That would not seem to be that many. Not much more than the population of New York City.
Another figure cited about how rich the richest are getting, this being the second-highest ever Powerball win: It quoted $1.8B. That almost reads like $1.88, rather than $1,800,000,000.00.
Some think it would save a lot of money to cut the SNAP budget by, say, $1,000,000. When spread over the sheer number of recipients, that would perhaps be around an ounce of corn, or maybe as low as several kernels. Food for thought, but good or bad, I do not know. Just what percentage of the population is on SNAP, anyway?
And if you look at that populace, if you did what is proposed by some and cut out soda and candy, how much of a difference would it make? Take away from every one of them both a Snickers bar and a can of Coke, each one, and you’d be saving much less than a buck overall, per U.S. citizen.