EDITOR’S NOTE: In addition to writing longer, indepth Substack posts (A Point of Personal Privilege), Representative Javadi also makes regular social media posts, which he includes in the “notes” on Substack. As several of his posts have been, this one is personal and it makes a point about who really benefits the most from SNAP – children and elders. No one should be hungry. We need to do better.
By State Representative Cyrus Javadi
My mom was what some people used to call a “food stamp queen.”
She worked three jobs and raised four kids. The only time I saw her not working was when she was sick from exhaustion.
No vacations. Only Sundays off. No new car. No new clothes. A hero.
Of the 42 million people who qualify for SNAP, 21 million, or nearly half, are kids. Think about that. Kids. Hungry. Every day.
And, even if you buy into the cynical idea that their parents just don’t want to work, why is that the kid’s fault?
The rest? Split between seniors and adults. About 8 million are senior citizens. Some who can work, and many who can’t.
The remaining 13 million are adults. Three out of four have worked sometime in the last year. A third are working right now.
The average SNAP household earns between $10,000 and $14,000 a year, or around $1,000 a month. They’re waiters, baristas, dockhands, grocery clerks, CNAs, daycare workers, janitors, farmers, and loggers. They keep the coast running in the summer and scramble for hours when the tourists go home. They can’t always find childcare or transportation. The mountain they climb every day just to make ends meet is their own Mt. Everest.
SNAP provides about $180 a month per person, or roughly $6 a day. That’s a couple of eggs for breakfast, a tuna sandwich for lunch, and a grilled cheese for dinner.
That’s for growing kids, for seniors, or for working adults who put in a full day working at jobs most of us don’t want to do.
We’re the richest country in the world.
This is the best we can do?