Policy, Lugar and SNAP
Sen. Dick Lugar’s office sent me a nice photo from my recent visit to D.C. I’m standing next to the Senator and with a big red button on my sweater that says “End Hunger 2015,†echoing President Obama’s goal to end child hunger by that date.
I was in D.C. for a policy conference with several hundred other end-hunger advocates from around the nation. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 is set to expire in September and we wanted to be sure our elected representatives knew where we stood on the issues.
This legislation includes all the federal child nutrition programs, including the School Breakfast and the National School Lunch Programs, the Summer Food Service Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. Local pantries and assistance programs would be hard-pressed to meet the need without federal nutrition programs.
Sen. Dick Lugar needs no coaching when it comes to anti-hunger legislation — our third ‘earmark’ under his sponsorship was just signed into law. But it never hurts to show your face and state your case. I made stops with colleagues at Sen. Evan Bayh’s office and Congressman Mike Pence’s. I went alone to Congressman Dan Burton’s. We dropped information sheets with hopes that bipartisanship would win the day for our nation’s hungry children.
Have we all made the transition from the term Food Stamps to SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)? That name change happened last October. We had ample opportunity to practice the new word at the policy conference in discussions around the impact of the Farm Bill and the stimulus bill.
An interesting note about SNAP is the economic stimulus it has always offered. While the nutrition assistance helps families in crisis until they can get on their feet again, the fact is that for every $5 in benefits used in the community $9.20 in economic activity is generated. And to think we generally leave 35% of those benefits with the federal government because those who are eligible aren’t using the program!
If you are wondering what that looks like in dollars, our eight counties used $6,280,607.00 in SNAP benefits in February alone. That meant an economic impact of $11,556,316.00. If everyone eligible had participated that could have been over $4 million dollars more in economic activity last month! Madison County’s share was 28 percent.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 automatically increased benefits to current SNAP recipients. A family of four, for example, may see an $80 increase per month to buy groceries.
In the meantime, more people are unemployed. More people are using the private pantry network that Second Harvest Food Bank supports year around. The Farm Bill is bringing more USDA food to us to distribute to qualified pantries.
We Can Care is collecting food throughout Madison County. Homeward Bound Indiana is raising funds for their walk in April. Letter Carriers are gearing up for the big May food drive. Individual and corporate donors are responding to our spring campaign. Looks like we are all working about as hard as we can to keep hunger at bay. But if you have a moment, call your local, state and federal representatives and ask them what they are doing to keep our kids from going hungry.