Letter to the Editor: Protecting programs that feed hungry kids: SNAP
October 10, 2017
Dear Editor:
Although food insecurity affects more than 17% of people in South Carolina, it is often hard to see. When a child can’t focus at school because they didn’t have dinner the night before or breakfast that morning, it isn’t always clear that hunger is driving their distraction – but it is often times the culprit.
The Lowcountry Food Bank works day-in and day-out to end hunger in our community by serving our friends and neighbors who are suffering from food insecurity because of a lost job, an illness or a paycheck that just can’t stretch far enough to cover all of the essentials. While the Lowcountry Food bank strives to end hunger in our area, we can’t fill the need without programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as “food stamps”).
The timely, targeted and temporary benefits that SNAP provides to struggling families are essential to the fight against food insecurity. SNAP assists families as they get on their feet, get back to work, and get out of poverty, and it is an important part of the system that fights hunger and poverty in the US. However, this important program is in jeopardy.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a Budget Resolution late next week that proposes $150 billion in cuts to SNAP and the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which currently helps more than 9 million kids get school meals they need to grow up healthy, educated and strong. These cuts would cripple efforts to feed our nation’s hungry kids.
Simply put, these budget cuts would take food out of the mouths of hungry kids. When children have access to healthy meals, they grow up healthier, succeed more often in school and are more likely to escape the cycle of poverty. This is good for our economy and good for our state.
To help ensure that those in our community can put food on the table, it is essential that Congress supports full funding of SNAP. We must urge our lawmakers in Congress to stand up for children by protecting the programs that help them get the food they need.
Best regards,
Pat Walker, CEO and President
Lowcountry Food Bank
2864 Azalea Drive
Charleston, SC 29405
Office Phone 843-747-8146
