When I was ten years old, my family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just months after learning to walk again after the car accident. It was the only time we did not live in Chicago during my childhood.
Shortly after moving into a big, beautiful home, we were evicted. With only a few family members in the state who decided we could not live with them, my mother and her three daughters went to a woman’s shelter. My brother was welcomed to stay with an older cousin, but she didn’t have room for the girls.
I’ve gone days without food, months without a roof, and years without the kind of nourishment most people take for granted. So watching people mock families who are about to lose their SNAP benefits isn’t just sad — it’s cruel, and it reminds me how easily empathy gets lost in comfort.
In a matter of days, many American families face the risk of losing their food stamp benefits as the Trump Administration intends to cut payments, affecting about 42 million individuals across the nation. What people are feeling and witnessing is not about lazy parents who are not working to put food on the table. This is about a trash economy that has forced even the hardest-working families to rely on assistance. You might not need it today, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need it tomorrow.
Before the stock market crash of October 1929, there was a time of optimism. Many families prospered as cars and new technology grew. People did not expect to go to their banks and be locked out without warning. Families didn’t expect that they would have to stand in bread lines. It happened suddenly, and it could happen to you, too.
“The loss of SNAP benefits leads to food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, which are associated with numerous negative health outcomes in children, such as poor concentration, decreased cognitive function, fatigue, depression, and behavioral problems.”
– Melissa Quinn, CBS News
My cousin put it perfectly on Facebook:
“Food stamps fed all of us. Medicaid paid them hospital bills. WIC kept formula in our baby’s bottles. Free lunch stopped our stomachs from growlin in class. The projects gave most of us a roof when we ain’t have one. Financial Aid got a lot of ya’ll them degrees you flexin now. We’ve all had help at some point, so quit looking down on folks still getting it. You just forgot what struggle felt like. Don’t get too high up…the ground still waiting if you fall.”
– Tiff McCormick, Facebook Post
The PBS Blog 
Your cousin DEF said it best! I am preparing myself to be able to assist my mother because she does get fod stamps and is on Medicaid. *Sighs* Every time I feel as though I’ve cleared the way enough for myself, something like this happens. But my mama?! I’d die ten deaths if it meant I could help her.
“This is about a trash economy that has forced even the hardest-working families to rely on assistance. You might not need it today, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need it tomorrow.”
FACTS!!!
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She did, and her post went viral, so people definitely felt it. I also understand you about taking care of mama, and that’s what people don’t realize. It affects more than just the individuals involved; it impacts entire families and communities.
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Exactly! I tried to break this down to one of my brothers because he said he wouldn’t be bothered by it, and I had to tell him, “This will have a trickle down effect. You may not experience the change immediately from all this, but you will feel it, whether directly or indirectly. *Sighs*
Her post deserved to go viral.
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Exactly. A big trickle-down effect. I encourage people to study the Great Depression of ‘29. There is never really anything new under the sun.
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It’s cruelty. And the opposite of the Christianity Trump says he follows. Christians are supposed to help the poor, or so Christ said.
And it’s obscene that there are people so rich they have more than some small countries, yet there are people in the so-called richest country in the world who can’t afford to eat.
But we also have food banks in the UK and poor people who cznafford to eat. There was an item on yesterday’s news saying that some mothers are diluting baby milk to save money.
The system just ain’t working, except for the few very rich, and as they have the power, I can see anything changing.
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“there are people so rich they have more than some small countries, yet there are people in the so-called richest country in the world who can’t afford to eat.”
You hit the nail on the head here. It’s so sad.
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I am so sorry you experienced that as a child, and that those currently in power seem to be doubling down, taking systems that had problems already and destroying them completely. Yes, we need a society where people are able to take care of themselves, but there will always be people like the elderly, disabled, recently escaped abused women, victims of natural disasters, etc. who need temporary or permanent help. I’m praying enough true Christians wake up to the cruel, anti-Christian acts being done in their name and stop voting for these people. And that once this regime is out, the newly elected get to work genuinely solving the problems that allowed this bunch in the door in the first place.
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Thank you, Lynne. Scripture says that the poor will always be among us.
I think the problem is that what most people consider Christian behavior is actually just Biblical. And since most Christians (including the religion itself) do not wholly follow the Bible, many forget about those basic principles.
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I would not describe myself as Christian, but it seems the actual teachings of Christ have helped guide many people over the ages to act as instruments of a loving God. I think approaching problems with love in our hearts improves the chances of the solutions we arrive at being humane and formed in collaboration with those intended to be helped, rather than imposed with force in ignorance of the true root causes. I so appreciate you and all that you do.
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