Over five million Americans have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since the Trump Administration made massive cuts to the program last year–about two million of those are children. In fact, 62% of all SNAP recipients are families with children.
In South Carolina, 13% –that’s about 75,000 people–have lost SNAP benefits in the last year. More than 204,000 people across coastal South Carolina face food insecurity, including more than 48,000 children.
Our food banks are already seeing an increased demand for assistance due to cuts in the SNAP program, and at a time when their own funding is also being affected by government subsidy reductions. The next round of SNAP restrictions, planned to start in November, will only cause more recipients to be dropped from the program and increase the burden on our local food bank.
This year, the American Humanists Association presented the American Empathy Project, which challenged us to come up with a project to help our fellow humans. But it can’t end there. Empathy demands that we respond compassionately to the suffering of others– not just once, but consistently.
Since the largest segment of the population affected by these SNAP cuts are families with children, SHL is shifting the focus of the SNAP Back at Hunger program to put more resources into helping feed hungry families. In our last round of donations, we partnered with a school to send meals home with children for whom school lunch was likely their only reliable source of food. It was such a success that we are expanding this idea to other Title 1 schools.
To that end, this Saturday, SHL volunteers will be packing hundreds of meal kits that will be sent home with underprivileged children in Title I schools. We hope to continue this program throughout the school year, and make arrangements to help over the summer as well.
But we can’t do it without you. Will you please help us make sure that children have enough to eat until this SNAP emergency has passed?
Over five million Americans have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since the Trump Administration made massive cuts to the program last year–about two million of those are children. In fact, 62% of all SNAP recipients are families with children.
In South Carolina, 13% –that’s about 75,000 people–have lost SNAP benefits in the last year. More than 204,000 people across coastal South Carolina face food insecurity, including more than 48,000 children.
Our food banks are already seeing an increased demand for assistance due to cuts in the SNAP program, and at a time when their own funding is also being affected by government subsidy reductions. The next round of SNAP restrictions, planned to start in November, will only cause more recipients to be dropped from the program and increase the burden on our local food bank.
This year, the American Humanists Association presented the American Empathy Project, which challenged us to come up with a project to help our fellow humans. But it can’t end there. Empathy demands that we respond compassionately to the suffering of others– not just once, but consistently.
Since the largest segment of the population affected by these SNAP cuts are families with children, SHL is shifting the focus of the SNAP Back at Hunger program to put more resources into helping feed hungry families. In our last round of donations, we partnered with a school to send meals home with children for whom school lunch was likely their only reliable source of food. It was such a success that we are expanding this idea to other Title 1 schools.
To that end, this Saturday, SHL volunteers will be packing hundreds of meal kits that will be sent home with underprivileged children in Title I schools. We hope to continue this program throughout the school year, and make arrangements to help over the summer as well.
But we can’t do it without you. Will you please help us make sure that children have enough to eat until this SNAP emergency has passed?