Food Stamps

In school you always eat breakfast and lunch with your friends. Some pack their lunch, some pay and some get free lunch. Did you ever wonder why Sara doesn't pay for her lunch? Or after school when you come home hungry and run into the snack drawer to grab your favorite candy that is always there, what would you do if it wasn't there? Have you ever wondered why your friend Sara never invites you over for dinner, or why she never invites you over to her house? You might not know it but the person sitting right next to you could have money problems and cannot afford snacks or food. SNAP is a program that helps people who don't have a lot of money or a steady income to buy food for their families. Food stamps are also another name for the SNAP program and this is the governments way of helping those who are struggling.

Figure 1; A list of  what you can and cannot buy with
your snap card. SNAP shopping bag facts. 

What is SNAP?

Sara's mom or dad may not have a job or may not be making enough money from a job. Which that is OK because everyone has problems but the government made the SNAP program to help those who are in need of it. About 43 million people today are using food stamps to provide for their family. (1) This means that 1 in 5 of your other classmates are using food stamps to buy their meals. (3) You look next to you, realize that everyone looks the same, no one looks dirty or starved but that is not the case. Just because Sara's mom and dad don't make a lot of money, doesn't mean that you are able to tell just by looking at her. You would never know which one of your friends or classmates are struggling or hungry because the school provides them with food but, what happens when they go home is a different story. Some kids only eat in school and aren't able to run home to grab their favorite snack. As shown in Figure 1, you are able to buy certain stuff at the store that SNAP can pay for. Your parents can only buy food that helps you make meals and food you can snack on, whether it is candy like Twizzlers, or healthy like apples.

How can you get into the program?

Figure 2; Using a SNAP card at a local store.
How to use a SNAP card. 

 When your parents are struggling they will reach out to anyone for assistance to help their kids. To sign up for the SNAP program is very easy, you can do it online! Sara's mom or dad had to fill out a bunch of paperwork that asks a whole bunch of questions. Where you live, where you work, how many kids you have and how much money you make. Once they know all this they send it to a Heath and Human Service Office where they look over all their history and see if your family is able to apply for a SNAP card.

SNAP does more than you think!

Even though SNAP is a program that helps you buy food it also helps the farmer grow your food too! Each $1 billion of retail generated by SNAP creates $340 million in farm production, $110 million in farm value-added, and 3,300 farm jobs (2) This means that when the government takes this money out of your parents taxes, they also help the farmers grow crops and food that you eat. Without these crops we wouldn't have any corn on the cob to eat on Thanksgiving or anything like that! Overall the SNAP program is to help Sara's whole family eat and stay healthy. Without this program who knows where Sara would be or how hungry she would feel.

(1) Pflaum, Naida. (2016, July 21). Trump: 43 millionAmericans on Food stamps. Retrieved from http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/21/donald-trump/trump-43-million-americans-food-stamps/
(2) SNAP to Health. (2010-2017).  The Real Benefits of SNAP. Retrieved from https://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/the-real-benefits-of-the-snap-program/

(3) Newsroom. (2015,Feburary 20). 

One in Five Children Receive Food Stamps, Census Bureau Reports

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-16.html