Poverty – From a Simmer to a Boil

Who Deserves a Mental Health Day?

October 3, 2018Jenifer1 Comment

Recently I had a couple of rough weeks. You know the kind where you feel like you are slogging through mud. It seemed like, even though I was working really hard, I ended each day further behind than where I started. So on a Friday, at the end of a week where I had a series of problems with several of my large appliances, I had had enough and red-wine decided to take a mental health day. I only did tasks I wanted to do rather than needed to do, like baking banana bread instead of putting clothes away. I took the afternoon off, enjoying a glass of wine at 4 o’clock, and fed my family fast food for dinner.

Most people I talked with about my mental health day and the reason for it, told me I was perfectly justified, even deserving. In other words, I was given permission by my social group to practice some self care. Taking some time to take a break from whatever problem is looming and treat oneself, allows a person to recharge and approach the problem or just a hectic life schedule with renewed energy and stamina. Let’s face it, who among us hasn’t needed a day to regroup. One might argue that occasional mental health days are necessary for one to be a productive member of society or a group.

But what about the person living poverty, who faces stressful situations at every turn? You know the person I am talking about. The guy whose car that won’t start, but he needs to get to work to keep that job. Or the caregiver with a chronically sick family member, whose care drains her energy as well as the household savings account. How about the single mom whose stagnant or shrinking paycheck must somehow cover the increasing costs of rent, utilities, and food? Does society commiserate with these people and afford them understanding when they practice self care? My experience is that society often judges those who are struggling in poverty severely for doing some of the same things it deems acceptable for me to do after a couple bad days.

Why is that? Why as a society are we willing to condone my actions when I take a mental health day, yet condemn similar actions taken by a person living in poverty who faces soul crushing hardships on a daily basis? I recently read an article in which a woman, who had lived for a time in poverty, decided to publicly reveal her situation. In steak the article, she discusses the shame and the stigma she felt due to her situation. She said, “I felt like what most people considered self care was, for me, indulgent and even selfish.” As I read this article, I was reminded of Simcha Fisher’s moving article, The Day I Bought Steak with My Food Stamps. Both of these women evocatively write about the shame and judgement society placed on them when they dared to take some small action to make their desperate situations a little better.

To counter the shame that society asks people living in poverty to carry around, and to help brighten their bleak situations, is the reason we at the food pantry try and provide little treats whenever we can. We regularly try to tuck special donated items, like Little Debbie snacks or lotions or Halloween relax napkins into the food boxes of those who are struggling with a particularly difficult time. Similarly, this is the reason I have chosen the items I have–sweet treats and warm beverages like coffee, tea, and hot chocolate–for my special food drives. Everyone who is dealing with a stressful situation deserves a treat or a pick me up without judgement. Everyone needs to know that it is okay to take care of oneself, whether that means taking a few minutes to savor a cup of coffee, enjoying the smile on their child’s face when given a snack cake, or buying a steak for dinner.

Avenge Hunger

September 7, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

avenge hunger

This insert came in my last month’s cable bill from Armstrong, our local cable provider. The insert alerts Armstrong’s customers about a food drive, benefiting local food banks and soup kitchens. They are sponsoring this food drive during the month of September as part of Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month. The nonprofit organization, Feeding America, started Hunger Action Month in 2008, in an effort to increase involvement nationwide in the fight against food insecurity in the United States. On their website, Feeding America urges Americans to stand up and Pass the Plate, by pledging to take some action to end hunger and then sharing that pledge with friends and family. The web page has a drop down menu of actions from which you can choose–donate, volunteer, contact legislators–or you can write in your own actions.

I like the idea, evoked by my cable company’s flyer, of inflicting harm on hunger on behalf of those who are hungry, and that this campaign will help individuals locally. I also support the call to action encouraged by Feeding America, and that they provide more than one suggestion for how the general population can fight hunger. One person may volunteer because he lacks the extra money to donate. Another may donate money to an organization like Feeding America or items to a food drive, because she lacks the time to volunteer. Charitable organizations who work tirelessly to assist those who are food insecure need both of these people and the resources they bring to bear in the fight against hunger. But the one action we all must must take is the third option provided in the drop down menu–contact our legislators.

The reason all those participating in this Pass the Plate campaign must engage their legislators, at all levels, is because non-profit organizations, all of them combined, can not feed all of the hungry in America. Nor can a cable company avenge hunger. Hunger and food insecurity in the United States is as formidable a foe as any of the Avengers has ever faced. As I have written before, charitable organizations alone can not solve this problem. At best they can provide stop gap measures which only serve as a band-aid on the problem. To really tackle hunger in America requires a strong social safety net and legislation which addresses the root causes of poverty in our country. So continue to volunteer and donate, as what you give enables charitable organizations to provide the stop gap measures those who are hungry need immediately, but also take the time to contact your legislators to insist that the programs which strengthened our social safety net be enacted and that steps be taken to address the root causes of poverty in America. Only then can we truly avenge hunger.

avengers

Kick the Can

May 2, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

mom kids walking I remember as a kid playing kick the can with my mother. Usually we played this game on our way back from a walk on a country road. At this point in the walk I was probably tired and complaining about having to walk, when my sister could either be carried or was already riding in a stroller. My mother would find an aluminum can (or bottle cap or some other kickable item) on the side of the road and encourage me to kick it, then run after it and kick it again. And before I knew it, we would be almost home. My version of kick the can down the road is a very literal one, as well as one that solves the problem at hand–pacifying a complaining child. There is, however, another meaning to kick the can down the road, namely to procrastinate, or in more political terms, to avoid solving a contentious problem with the hope that someone else will address it. Politicians often engage in the figurative sport of kicking the can down the road, unfortunately. This procrastination is not new. Think about how long in our history the problem of slavery was kicked down the road, and some would argue that remnants of the can are still being kicked today.

The danger with avoiding crafting a solution to a difficult problem is the creation of unintended symptomatic problems, which compound the original problem. Here is a case in point I remember from a Child Psychology course I took in college. In this class we were discussing the pros and cons of children attending daycare rather than staying home with a parent. As part of the discussion, the professor talked about the state of daycare in the United States at the time, particularly for low income working families and single parents. He said that children being left in the care of someone other than a parent or close family member isn’t harmful to the child per se. What makes daycare childcare potentially detrimental to the child are the conditions and quality of daycare the child attends. He explained that quality day care facilities, which provide a good staff to child ratio and are clean and interactive, pose little harm to children who attend. Unfortunately, he said, this type of daycare facility is expensive and the United States lacks an adequate number of these quality, affordable daycare facilities, especially for low income working families. He conjectured that if politicians ensured funding for adequate, quality daycare for low income families, the cost of doing so would be cheaper than addressing the more costly unintended problems, like poor academic performance, which awaited these children who lacked quality daycare.

This professor also contended that this reluctance to provide funding to address a solvable problem in favor of waiting until that manageable problem mushroomed into numerous, more complex problems with costlier solutions, is quite commonplace in our country. I have to admit that I see truth in his argument with regard to poverty. Rather than address the primary problem of poverty by working to create more jobs, to ensure an adequately trained and educated workforce, and to guarantee a livable wage for instance, our legislators have sought to address the symptomatic problems of poverty like unaffordable housing and healthcare costs or food insecurity. I would say this approach is better than not smashed can addressing poverty at all, except now legislators have begun to chop away at the supports that have been put in place to address these symptomatic problems, which brings me back to kicking the can down the road.

Recent proposals from the current Administration and Congress, like the proposed Farm Bill and HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s proposal to impose work requirements for HUD programs, demonstrate the current Administration and Congressional leadership’s lack of desire to now address even the symptomatic problems of poverty. In other words they are opting to kick the can down the road, and in doing so are ensuring the original problem persists. Only this time, because they are also removing the supports for the programs which address the symptoms of the poverty, these legislators are guaranteeing that the primary problem, poverty, will not only persist, but will grown and worsen. At some point we must stop playing games with people’s lives.

Below I have included some links to sources which provide an overview to the proposed Farm Bill and how it will affect those who experience poverty.

For a brief overview of the effects of the proposed Farm Bill on the SNAP click here.
For an in depth overview of the effects of the proposed Farm Bill on the SNAP click here. It is a lengthy, but comprehensive assessment, which is updated as this bill progresses through the legislative process.
For a good article on how the proposed reforms to SNAP will perpetuate the cycle of poverty click here.

Cut Those Apron Strings

March 21, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

blue apron1 As I promised in my last post, I want to take a closer look at the proposed restructuring of the delivery of SNAP benefits from the President’s proposed budget, released last month. The budget proposes to hold back half of a SNAP recipient’s direct benefit amount, replacing it with a box of pre-selected non-perishable food items, equal in value to the amount of the held back benefits. These boxes, named America’s Harvest Box, have been compared by Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to Blue Apron*. For those unfamiliar with Blue Apron, the online company allows customers to choose meals from a weekly menu. The ingredients and recipes for the selected meal(s) are then shipped directly to the customers’ doorsteps. I’m not sure the exact reason for the comparison. Maybe the Administration was trying to describe the food box concept in a way they thought the general population might understand. Or maybe they were trying to sell the idea by equating it with something hip and trendy. Surely the poor will love it! Whatever their reasoning, this proposal has been resoundingly panned by economists, policy wonks, hunger advocates, and almost every organization tasked with assisting those who are food insecure.

Before I discuss the proposed changes and why they are not a good idea, I want to explain how SNAP currently works and discuss some of the positives about the current delivery system. Once a month benefits are loaded on to a SNAP participant’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, which resembles a credit or debit card, and works just like a debit card. SNAP participants are able to use the EBT card at participating stores to purchase qualifying food items. That’s it! That’s how easy it is. The SNAP EBT card has been in use in all 50 states since 2004 and was introduced to reduce fraud associated with the use of paper food stamp coupons. These EBT cards have been successful in helping to reduce SNAP fraud to roughly 1%, one of the lowest frauds rates of any Federal program.

The current method used to administer SNAP has numerous benefits, and not just for bluearpon2 SNAP participants. For those who participate in SNAP, the EBT card allows them the control to purchase the food that is appropriate for the make-up of their household. For instance, if the household has a baby, baby food can be purchased, or if someone in the household has dietary restrictions or allergies, certain items can be avoided in favor of more appropriate ones. Additionally, using the SNAP EBT card allows participants to shop for their food when and where it is most convenient for them. For instance they can shop at night or on weekends to accommodate a work schedule or more frequently if they are only able to carry a few items on the bus. Finally, the current manner in which SNAP functions does not just benefit SNAP participants. The USDA reports that every $5 of SNAP benefit spent generates $9 in economic activity for the local economy.

From all angles the current SNAP program’s benefit delivery system looks like it functions quite well. It is easy to administer, experiences very little fraud, and is flexible in meeting the needs of those it seeks to help. So what would the restructuring do to improve this program? Absolutely nothing. As previously stated, the proposed restructure would withhold half of the benefit dollar amount for a SNAP recipient and replaced it with the America’s Harvest Box. The remaining benefits would be loaded onto an EBT card for SNAP participants to use as they currently do. The box of food would contain non-perishable foods, such as canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, pasta and cereals, and shelf stable milk. Each SNAP household would get a food box valued at the amount of their withheld benefits. The food items would be chosen by the government and will vary from month to month depending on what is available.

blueapron3 If you are like me, at this point you are scratching your head and asking why the government would blow up an efficiently functioning program and replace it with one that will be less beneficial to those who use it, possibly more expensive to administer, and a logistical nightmare for all. According to the USDA the intent of this change is to “improve the nutritional value of the benefits provided and reduce the potential EBT fraud.” In response to the second half of that statement, what fraud and how is this going to help? Direct benefits on an EBT card, which are currently virtually fraud proof (hence a 1% rate of fraud), are being converted into a box of food, which could easily be sold or traded, creating conditions where fraud can more readily happen.

As for the first half of the statement, the America’s Harvest Boxes do very little to ensure better access to nutritional food for those receiving SNAP benefits. The boxes provide no fresh produce, while taking away half of the SNAP recipient’s direct benefits, which could have been used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition to limiting a SNAP household’s access to fresh produce, the America’s Harvest Box has potential to hamper SNAP recipients’ ability to purchase food items appropriate to the household and may even give recipients food which can not be used by members of the household. In all likelihood, the contents of the boxes would be uniform for all households and households would not have any idea what exactly will be inside until the box is opened. Consequently, a family with a baby would get the same food as the family with older children or no children. The diabetic or person with heart disease would get the same food as the SNAP recipient with no health issues. And what about those with food allergies, like peanut butter? Some households will get food they can’t use, while others won’t get items they need. The result in either case will be SNAP recipients who will have a reduced ability to purchase fresh produce and food appropriate to their household.

In addition to having the purchasing power of their direct SNAP benefits diminished, these SNAP participants face the likely burden of having to pick up their food boxes. With Blue Apron, the box of ingredients is delivered to the purchasers’ doorsteps. I doubt America’s Harvest Boxes will be delivered to SNAP recipients’ doorsteps as the cost would be too prohibitive. Consequently, food box recipients will need to travel to a distribution location at specific times to receive their food. One might think picking up this box of food is no big deal, but what if the pick up time is during their work hours? Or they don’t have reliable transportation? Or they have a car, but lack enough money to buy gas for this extra trip? Or they are unable to carry a large box of food on public transportation? The currently mode of putting direct benefits on an EBT card presents blueapron4 none of these added burdens for SNAP participants.

SNAP recipients, however, are not the only ones to experience the negatives of this restructuring of SNAP. States, tasked with the job of assembling and distributing these food boxes, will also face hardships. The proposed budget says that states will have “substantial flexibility in designing the food box delivery system through existing infrastructure, partnerships, or commercial/retail delivery services.” But what does that mean? The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities contends that neither the USDA nor the states currently have the operational capacity and infrastructure necessary to support the distribution of commodities to individual households. If that is the case, new bureaucracy will need to be created with the possibility that the funds to create this delivery system will to come out of the already shrinking SNAP budget, further reducing the funding available to assist the food insecure. Additionally, local economies will suffer when SNAP recipients’ ability to purchase their food locally drops by half. Large retailers, like Walmart and Target, are already speaking out in opposition to this change.

Many of the critics of the America’s Harvest Box proposal agree that this restructuring of SNAP probably will not pass. Even though this legislation may be going nowhere, I still feel that discussing it is important. The details of the restructuring, at best, reveal a disconnect between what the Administration thinks will help SNAP participants and what they really need in terms of assistance. More disturbing, however, some critics believe this proposal is just a smokescreen to cover for cuts and mandatory work requirements for SNAP participation. There has been a movement by some legislators for the past several years to severely cut the budget for SNAP, and unable to pass legislation to make that cut all at once, they have been chipping away at the SNAP budget year after year. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is one of the few remaining programs of our social safety net. Every year SNAP prevents millions of Americans from slipping through the net into a level poverty from which they can not recover. If SNAP is allowed to be restructured or in any other way to have its budget cut, I think the depths of poverty will extend down to levels we have not seen in this country for many decades. Those of us concerned with the plight of people in poverty must remain vigilant.

*Next time, before the anyone from the Administration makes a comparison, perhaps he should do some research. Blue Apron has never turned a profit and has actually been losing customers. It’s stock has lost two-thirds of the value of it’s initial public offering of $10, causing speculation about whether the company will even exist in 5 years.

A Budget Built on Myths

March 5, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

Over the past two weeks I have read analyses and responses to the President’s 2019 proposed budget from a variety of sources, including organizations which report the news, conduct policy review, advocate for the poor, and help provide food for those who are food insecure. All of these organizations and news outlets have come to the same conclusion–this budget will be disastrous to poor Americans. Since my blog focuses on food insecurity, I am going to limit my discussion of the proposed budget to changes which will affect aid to those who are food insecure; however, the budget’s proposed cuts to the federal housing assistance program, Medicaid, and other programs comprising our social safety net will undoubtedly further negatively impact these same households. I will mostly focus on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is slated to have its budget cut by $213 billion over the next ten years, or 30 percent. This budget cut to SNAP would be achieved by drastically restructuring benefit delivery, a change affecting a majority of participating SNAP households. Additional proposed changes in benefits and eligibility requirements would make at least 4 million people elderly hands ineligible for any SNAP benefits. These proposed cuts will affect SNAP participants across all groups, including the elderly, those with disabilities, low income working families, children and veterans.

If this budget is approved, the largest cut to SNAP would occur through a dramatic restructuring in the delivery of benefits. In this restructuring $260 billion (over 10 years) will be shifted from benefits paid directly to households for the purchase of food, back to the government. Here is how the restructuring will work. Under the proposal, households which receive $90 or more in SNAP benefits each month (80% of all SNAP recipients) would see half of their benefit amount shift from direct EBT funds, which are then used by the recipient to purchase food, to a box of pre-selected, non-perishable food worth the same dollar amount including, shelf stable milk, cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans, and canned fruits and vegetables.* The cost for the purchase food, assembly, and distribution of these boxes, called America’s Harvest Box, is budgeted to cost $130 billion, or half of the money being shifted from direct benefits. The remaining $130 billion of the held back funds would be eliminated from the program, comprising the majority of the USDA’s estimated ten year SNAP savings. This change would affect almost 90% of SNAP participants, or approximately 34 million people in 16 million households in 2019.

The cuts to SNAP do not end with this restructuring though. The President’s 2019 budget proposes an additional $85 billion in cuts to SNAP over a ten year period. For example, the budget proposes raising the upper age limit for unemployed able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), who are limited to only 3 months of SNAP benefits, from the current age of 49 to age 62. Another proposed change would be to cap SNAP benefits disabled at the level for a household of six, penalizing any households of more than six individuals. This will greatly impact multi-generational households or households where two families have come together to pool their resources by sharing costs. An additional proposed cut would be the elimination of the minimum benefit, ending benefits for roughly 2 million individuals, mostly low-income seniors and people with disabilities. These are just a few of the other areas the budget proposes to cut SNAP benefits. SNAP, however, is not the only program assisting those who are food insecure targeted for cuts.

Like SNAP these other programs help all groups who are facing poverty and food insecurity. For instance, the budget proposes the all but elimination of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which will impact seniors. The CSFP distributes senior boxes, which provides meal boxes to low income seniors. Additionally there are proposed cuts to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and school and summer lunch programs. These cuts will greatly impact children and weaken programs which have been proven to not only lessen hunger, but infant eating to improve the health and educational achievement of children. The last cuts I want to mention are cuts to programs that assist with purchasing fresh produce at farmer’s markets, and nutritional education programs. These cuts strike me as incredibly hypocritical as one of the main reasons for restructuring SNAP benefits to include the America’s Harvest Box was to ensure SNAP participants were purchasing healthy food with their benefits. The America’s Harvest Box, however, contains no fresh produce and these cuts will reduce the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables individuals receiving assistance can purchase.

As I state above, the proposed cuts to these social safety net programs designed to assist the food insecure do not discriminate and will hurt all segments of the population receiving assistance. This proposed budget reflects a clear misunderstanding about who the average SNAP participant actually is.* I have come to the conclusion over the past few years of studying poverty issues and food insecurity, that many in this country, including a large number of politicians, believe that the average SNAP participant is someone who is lazy and doesn’t want to work. They believe that person uses his or her benefits to buy junk food and sodas or steaks and other luxuries. Furthermore, when they not making inappropriate food purchases, they are engaging in some sort of fraudulent activity with their SNAP benefits. And all the while they are abusing the system, they are laughing at hard working Americans for providing their tax dollars to fund this program. Ladies and gentlemen, this version of the average SNAP participant is a MYTH and before anyone starts to protest about some friend their brother knows, or a co-worker’s cousin or even their own deadbeat cousin, let me just say that I know there are those out there who abuse the system. I have witnessed it myself. But the number of farm worker participants I have witnessed who are truly struggling, working hard, and trying to do the right thing to get themselves and their families out of the situation they are in, vastly outweighs the handful of SNAP abusers I have encountered.

I grew up hearing that those in the United States who wanted to could pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make a good life for themselves. I was taught that in America if a person worked hard and played by the rules, he could rise up and attain the American Dream. I have learned that this, too, is a MYTH. Oh sure, the possibility does exist for an individual to start with very little, and with hard work and smart decisions, attain wealth. I would just argue that there is more to that person’s story than just hard work and sacrifice, because I encounter individuals all the time who are working hard and sacrificing, but still live in poverty. The truth is that it is against incredible odds that anyone is able to move out of poverty in the United States. The social safety net in the Untied States contains gaping holes in its current state. Maintaining the status quo will at best ensure that poverty numbers in the United States will remain at their current level. If this budget were to pass, however, all bets are off.

* I will address this topic further in an upcoming blog post.

A Moral Disgrace

February 15, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

eraser Monday I sat down to write, but was unable to get started. I had a topic–charitable organizations alone can not adequately address poverty and food insecurity. I had done reading on the topic and had even written out some notes and a basic outline. Still nothing came. I am very familiar with the topic, having touched upon it several times already in my writing, and have definite ideas about the role charity should play in addressing poverty. I thought maybe the strong opinions I had regarding the topic might be creating a barrier to writing. Sometimes the posts I am the most emotionally attached to are the more difficult ones to write. Consequently, I decided to put my chosen topic away and look for another one to write about, maybe something positive and uplifting as I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the enormity of the problem of food insecurity. I began searching on the Internet, reading articles and postings on various websites, but nothing jumped out at me, certainly not anything positive. And then, just before I my blogging day ended and I had to shift back into Mom mode, something caught my eye. The President had released his proposed budget.

As I transitioned from my home office to the kitchen, I switched on the radio to listen to the evening news cycle. The release of the proposed budget dominated the evening news, with NPR even incorporating the budget release into their banter during their winter fund drive break as a result of the budget’s proposal to zero out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Dinnertime neared and the radio got turned off. It wasn’t until later that night that I was able to check back in to various news sources to get an update on what the budget contained. I expected there to be information and even some criticism from various news outlets. While I was not expecting good news to come out of this budget, I was not quite prepared for what greeted me.

There were articles and analyses about the content of the proposed budget, but there were also statements and press releases, from various organizations advocating for and assist with those experiencing poverty and food insecurity, who I follow on Facebook. And these organizations, who make it their purpose to assist those in poverty, who understand intimately what the result of these proposed budget cuts will be, were outraged. Among those responses, the harsh statement from Abby J. Leibman, President and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, calling the budget proposal a “moral disgrace,” really grabbed my attention. At that moment I realized that the statements from the these organizations, condemning this budget, were making the same point I had been planning to make in my aborted post on Monday. Philanthropic organizations alone can not make a dent in the problem of poverty or food insecurity. Nor should they be expected to take point on a problem as complex as poverty. These organizations, who are in the trenches trying to help people who are hungry, know that if you further slash these social safety net programs or re-work successful programs, like SNAP, real people will suffer and the problem will only get worse.

The anti-hunger field has been prepared for disappointment, but this proposal is beyond the pale.

Abby J. Leibman President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

Over the past couple of days I have learned more about the President’s proposed budget, especially with regard to social safety net programs like SNAP. I have saved numerous articles and website postings critiquing this budget and the changes it proposes to these compass rocks programs. The despair I felt paralyzed by on Monday has been replaced by anger and indignation. I am going to spend some time reading all the material I have saved. Once I have done that I will share with you why this budget is the train wreck so many people who study poverty and/or work with the poor know it to be. For now I will leave you with the main question on my mind. Have we Americans lost our moral compass when it comes to understanding the reasons for poverty and the steps needed to be taken to successfully address poverty? Looking at this budget, it sure feels like it.

Be the Change

January 25, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

be the change I wanted to let my Facebook followers know that I have launched a From a Simmer to a Boil Facebook page. It has actually been in existence for quite some time, but I have just recently updated it. My intention with this page is to share, in addition to my blog posts, interesting, informative, thought provoking items about food insecurity and poverty, like the video I just posted about better understanding poverty in the United States. I encourage you to check it out and “like” and “follow” the page. You can find it by searching From a Simmer to a Boil on Facebook or by clicking here. I also have a Twitter account @fromasimmertoaboil, which I hope to post to more frequently as well. Thank you for your interest in what I write and for caring about people who are experiencing poverty and food insecurity!

Trying to Restore Some Dignity

January 12, 2018Jenifer1 Comment

birthday-cake The other day, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across a reposted blog entitled Poor People Deserve to Taste Something Other Than Shame. In the blog, the author relays her reaction to and feelings about her mother bringing home a Boston cream pie one evening after work. At the time, the author, her mother, and her brother were living in poverty and receiving food stamps. As I read the author’s recounting of the event, I understood from the title what she was going to end up emphasizing, but was certainly surprised at her reaction, as a child, to that unexpected treat. After some some reflection I wondered at my surprise. Wasn’t her reaction to the treat coming from the same place as the apology we often get at the food pantry from clients, the apology to us from the client because he or she needs to come ask for help? Both reactions result from a feeling of shame and both reactions break my heart.

I believe that most people consider themselves compassionate, willing to help those in need as much as they are able. And luckily for organizations like food pantries, many people do give, not only food and other items, but also time and money, to help those in need. I wonder, however, how many of those people give without question or judgement of the person needing help or the reason he or she is in that situation. I imagine very few do. Unconditional giving is difficult, especially if you have had to work hard and sacrifice to have what you do. I will be the first to admit that I am not always free of judgement, even though it is important to me to remain open minded and learn the story behind the situation. Remaining non-judgmental is even harder if you are told by others that most of those in poverty find themselves in that situation solely because of bad decisions or that they are lazy, and when you help them you are allowing them to take steak advantage of you and/or the system.

When you hear this message enough times, spoken by people with authority, like politicians or the media, the message becomes internalized, whether you are person giving the assistance or the person in need of the assistance, and the repercussions of hearing this message are negative for both groups. Those who are inclined to give may give less to charitable organizations assisting the poor or support politicians who advocate reducing assistance provided by the government, as a result of internalizing this message. Additionally, when they do give, they may give with an attitude that the recipient should feel grateful for what is given, regardless of their taste for the item (think food), the condition of the item, or their preference/need for something else over the item given. For those in poverty the repercussions of this message are disastrous. Not only do they have to cope with the reality of shrinking assistance, whether that is governmental assistance like SNAP or local charitable assistance like food in a food pantry or non-food items like winter coats, but they must struggle with the knowledge that many in society view them as a pariah, which undoubtedly causes feelings of shame and failure.

I am very aware of society’s current attitudes toward those in poverty. Each time I launch a drive for a special item, like coffee and tea or cookie and brownie mixes, I brace myself for pushback from readers. I worry about comments like “These items are not necessities.” or “Coffee (tea, brownies or fill in the blank) are luxury items, indulgences.” followed by “Why should I use my hard earned money to pay for someone else to have a luxury?”. Luckily for me, I have yet to receive any of these comments. Any person questioning my choice of these items for a food drive would be correct. The items I have chosen thus far are not staples, and indeed are indulgences, but that is exactly why I have chosen them. At the food pantry, and I would imagine the same is true for most food pantries, we do not focus on the reason for the need, only that there is a need. Because we receive state and federal food items to distribute, we do have regulations we need to follow as to who qualifies for assistance and how much we can distribute to each household, but once these requirements are met, all those in need are treated equally with dignity and compassion.

boston cream pie In addition to being non-judgmental and compassionate, however, we try to offer kindness and restore a little bit of dignity to those who are struggling daily with the weight of poverty. When we learn about a client facing a particularly difficult situation, we try to brighten that person’s day. For the grandmother who is raising some of her grandchildren or the caretaker of an ailing family member, we try to slip in a brownie mix or some other special treat if we have them. We keep on hand some birthday gift bags filled with all the fixings for a birthday party for households where a child is celebrating a birthday, but there is no money for a celebration. For clients who are cancer patients we give scented lotions and soaps donated from a local store when they rotate their stock. I can tell the aim of offering these niceties is successful in lessening the burden of shame these people carry by the look on the recipient’s face and the thank yous, often said repeatedly, we receive when we let them know about the item. And this is why I have chosen the items I have for my food drives. I wanted to pick things which would be a treat and would, if only for the amount of time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, allow someone in poverty to put down the weight of shame society has asked them to carry and and live like a person worthy of dignity.

A Human Face

January 4, 2018JeniferLeave a comment

As one year comes to a close and another opens, full of possibilities and potential, it is only natural to reflect on what has transpired over the past year, and to look forward and plan for the upcoming year. Many set resolutions for themselves based on goals they wish to attain, and others start new ventures. I am no different than most. This morning I made friends with my treadmill again and started logging my daily water intake, in hopes maintaining a better level of hydration. I have not limited my reflections and resolutions to just my personal life, however. As a result of stepping away, over the past year, from my bi-monthly schedule of locating, researching, and writing posts about interesting and informative topics concerning poverty and food insecurity, I have been able to think about what I hope to accomplish by writing the blog, to what degree I have been successful, and what, if any, changes need to be made. Consequently, I have decided to introduce monthly narratives about people I encounter as I assist those who are experiencing food insecurity.

The decision to write these monthly narratives stems from a frustration I have frequently experienced when talking with others about poverty, especially with regard to public assistance. The comments causing my frustration concern the questioning of the deservedness of those who receive any form of public assistance, whether that assistance is welfare (TANF), food stamps (SNAP) or food from a food pantry. I’ve heard individuals classify those receiving assistance as lazy and living off the hard work of taxpayers or as illegal immigrants who have only come to the United States to get a handout. Running through all of these comments is the theme that those in poverty are at fault for their situation, should feel shame, and any help they receive should carry a punitive component. Over the past few years of writing this blog, I have presented statistics and facts about the average individual receiving assistance in an attempt to educate those who make such statements as to who the typical individual receiving public assistance is and the typical circumstances causing his or her need. Unfortunately, I do not think I have made much headway in convincing those critical of public assistance that the majority of those receiving it are truly deserving.

Refusing to give up, I have used my time away from writing to think about another strategy I can use to encourage these folks to stop and consider the possibility that the majority of individuals receiving public assistance are in dire straits, are working as hard as they can to get out of their situation, and do deserve the assistance they are receiving during their time of need. As I have engaged others in a dialogue about poverty and the deservedness of those receiving public assistance, I have noticed that quite often the individual questioning the legitimacy of those in poverty to receive assistance is familiar with a person or family’s story which demonstrates for them genuine, legitimate need. Those critical of public assistance give a pass to the individuals in these cases. As a result of this observation, I have decided to write each month about a real person who is struggling with poverty and food insecurity, and whose story will hopefully give pause to someone who doubts the necessity of a strong social safety net in the United States. For these monthly narratives, I intend to draw on firsthand encounters* as often as I can in order to assure the veracity of the narrative, but will occasionally include an account I have read or heard about, so long as I can satisfactorily verify its accuracy. I welcome your stories as well, either in the comments of my blog posts or privately, for me to include in a future narrative. My hope is to put a human face on those who are struggling with poverty and food insecurity.

Finally, the reason I have included pictures of warm beverages in this blog, other than it is cold and snowing, is to let readers know that I will once again be collecting warm beverages to give out to clients at the food pantry during the month of February. This beverage drive was greatly appreciated by our clients last year, so much so, that we now routinely get asked if we have any coffee or tea available. It was also popular with readers, as I received numerous donations from many of you and have had readers already inquire this year about whether I was going to be collecting beverages again. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the warm beverage drive I held last year, I will provide a link to the blog post from last January so you know about the drive, and like last year, regular coffee, black tea and hot chocolate made with water are the best options.

*I will not use names or any other piece of information which might cause the subject of my narrative to be identified.

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It.

January 13, 2017JeniferLeave a comment

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps) is the federal government’s largest food assistance program. It is also one of it’s most successful, not that the average American realizes its success. In 2012, the most recent year for which I could find statistics, SNAP prevented 10.3 million people from falling into poverty, 4.9 million of whom were children, and lifted an additional 5.2 million people out of deep poverty, including 2.1 million children. In addition to aiding people at or below the poverty line, SNAP benefits provide a boost to the economy. A USDA study, corroborated by work done by Mark Zandi, of Moody’s Economy.com, found that every SNAP dollar spent generates from $1.70-$1.80 in GDP increase. Finally, the SNAP program is very efficiently run, with 90-95% of funding going directly to food assistance, and experiences very low fraud rates, roughly 1% of benefits. If SNAP is so successful, why does the average American not realize its success and why is there a desire among many politicians to restructure the program and reduce its funding? I can not answer the second part of that question definitively, but I can suppose that the average American does not know about the success of the SNAP program because several myths about how the program is run and who benefits exist and little has been done to dispel those myths.

Myth: Individuals receiving SNAP benefits are unemployed, able-bodied adults, who are predominantly people of color or immigrants.

Some of that statement is correct. Most individuals who receive SNAP benefits do not work, but not because they are lazy or gaming the system. Almost half (44%) of the individuals who receive SNAP are children. The elderly and disabled comprise another 20 percent, making two thirds of SNAP recipients individuals who would never be counted in any unemployment statistic. Furthermore, almost 90% of all households getting SNAP benefits contain either a child under the age of 18, a person over the age 60 or a disabled person. Additionally, in more than half of households receiving SNAP benefits, at least one person is steadily employed and in over 80% of households receiving SNAP benefits at least one person worked either in the year before or the year after receiving benefits. Concerning households containing an able bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD), exemptions allowing an extension in the amount of time they can receive SNAP benefits expired in most areas of the country in 2016. These individuals are now restricted to only three months of SNAP benefits during any 36 month period when they are not employed or participating in a work or training program for at least 20 hours per week.

As for the ethnic breakdown of individuals receiving SNAP, approximately 40% of those receiving benefits are white, 25% are African-American and 10% are Hispanic. In 2010, only approximately 7% of individuals receiving SNAP benefits were foreign-born individuals: 3% were naturalized citizens, 3% were legal, permanent residents, and about 1% were refugees. I will address the extent to which immigrants receive SNAP benefits later in this post.

Myth: Individuals receive SNAP benefits for years and years.

The SNAP program, unlike Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, also referred to as welfare), does not have a life-time limit. Consequently if an individual wishes to reapply for benefits every 3-6 months, his/her household can receive benefits as long as they qualify, so in theory someone could receive SNAP benefits his entire life. In reality, over half of individuals receiving SNAP benefits stop receiving benefits within 36 months. One third of those receiving SNAP benefits no longer need the assistance within a year of initially receiving benefits. The only exception, as already mentioned, are unemployed able bodied adults without dependents who can only receive benefits for 3 months in any given 36 month period.

Myth: Many of the people receiving SNAP benefits are undocumented immigrants.

Undocumented immigrants are not now and have never been eligible to receive any form of government assistance, including SNAP benefits. Children born in the United States to parents who are undocumented immigrants could, in certain circumstances, be eligible for benefits; however, the household would only receive the amount of benefit appropriate for the number of American born residents. Any undocumented immigrant living in that household would not be counted in determining the benefit amount. Furthermore, with regard to documented immigrants, they are eligible for SNAP benefits only after they have resided in the United States for 5 years. The only exceptions to the five year rule are documented immigrants who are refugees, asylees, or veterans or active-duty military personnel.

Myth: The amount of money recipients receive in SNAP benefits is sizeable and these benefits are easy to receive.

The SNAP program is a means tested aid program, which means that benefits are provided only to individuals or households which qualify. Consequently, to receive SNAP benefits, individuals must apply and provide all required documentation of annual income level, deductions and household composition. The application process must be completed every 3-6 months in order to continue receiving benefits. To put that into perspective, imagine having to renew your driver’s license at the DMV every 3-6 months, providing all the original documents, like birth certificates, marriage licenses and proof of residency, each time. Additionally, to be eligible to receive benefits, households have to have incomes lower than 130 percent to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line, depending on the state in which the applicant resides.

The dollar amount of SNAP benefits has decreased over recent years, with more cuts looming on the horizon. Currently, the average SNAP benefit is roughly $126 per person per month, which equals about $1.40 per person per meal. No one is living on delicacies on that amount. As a matter of fact, one third of households receiving SNAP benefits still need to go to a food pantry to supplement their benefits.

Myth: SNAP dollars can be used to purchase anything.

SNAP benefits can only be used to purchase food items and plants and seeds used to grow food. These benefits can not be used to buy non food items, like personal care items, diapers, household paper products, pet food and certainly not any alcohol or tobacco product. Even though SNAP benefits are to be used for food, not all food is approved for purchase. For instance, no hot, ready to eat foods can be purchased with SNAP benefits. This means EBT cards can not be used in restaurants, including fast food chains, nor can they be used to purchase ready to consume items in the grocery store, like a rotisserie chicken. The SNAP Restaurant Meal Program, which is available in only a few states, allows disabled, elderly and homeless recipients of SNAP to purchase meals in approved restaurants using a SNAP EBT card. Fast food eateries, like McDonalds are not eligible to apply to participate in the SNAP Restaurant Meal Program, so no fast food may be purchased by any one with SNAP benefits. Finally, SNAP recipients can not purchase food items in just any store selling these items. They can only use their EBT cards in establishments which have applied and been approved as participating stores or restaurants.

Myth: Fraud and waste is widespread in the SNAP Program.

According to a 2016 USDA report, fraud within the SNAP program is quite low, about 1 percent. The incidence of fraud decreased significantly when plastic EBT cards began being used, instead of paper money. This switch made the selling of SNAP dollars for cash dollars, trafficking, much more difficult. In 2010 the Government Accounting Office determined that trafficking had decreased from 3.8 cents per benefits dollar to roughly 1 cent per benefit dollar, where it has continued to remain. The SNAP program also contains little waste, with 93% of its funding going directly to providing food aid.

No federal government assistance program is problem free and often benefits from review and adjustments. As programs go, however, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has proven itself to be successful at providing needed assistance to many while keeping fraud and waste at low levels. Every year the SNAP program helps keep millions out of poverty, while lifting even more out of deep poverty. As the program is currently administered, it responds well to the ups and downs of the economy, expanding to help more individuals in tough economic times and shrinking, like it has the past 2-3 years, when the economic outlook brightens. SNAP dollars carry the added bonus of providing a stimulus to local economies as well, since the spending of SNAP dollars generates an increase in the Gross Domestic Product. The proven success of the SNAP program makes one question why many politicians are eager to both restructure it, thereby making it less effective, and reduce its operating budget. This program is not broken. It does not need to be fixed; it needs to be funded!