Food Stamps

One of the biggest days of the year is over for another 365 days, which may come as a relief to some food stamps users who were struggling with how to balance the budget for the holidays. In this post, we’ll take a look at how Christmas turned out for a couple of food stamps users across the country.

Virginia: Rachel Britton, her husband Terry, and their 11-year-old son Justin live on a net income of $10,000/year, making the holidays a tough time for them. It started in April, when Terry, an overnight maintenance worker for Walmart at $8/hour, saw hours slashed from 39 to 32 each week. Rachel herself doesn’t work, as she spends most of her time ailing for her mother who has diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, and suffers from seizures. As a result, the family has had to go on food stamps and receive $260/month. But even with that, they have had to supplement their SNAP benefits with going to a Feeding America pantry, as holiday foods—a sporadic expense—just aren’t factored into monthly grocery budgets. So, instead of going all out and getting a big turkey with plenty of side dishes, the family’s Christmas dinner came from a food pantry and they forewent gifts to each other, opting to instead give their son a couple of video games.

Texas: Diana Martinez, Denise Acosta, and Johnny Hill are all from San Antonio who have had to face Christmas on a stretched out budget. Diana experienced being laid off for the first time, while Johnny—a year from retirement—suddenly had to care for her two granddaughters and Denise dealt with the death of her mother and becoming the sole caregiver of her severely disabled younger brother. Denise was hit hard when an $800 medical bill caused her to fall behind on her $1,200 monthly payments for her house, and she had to move herself and her four children to her sister’s 200 miles away. While she received $113/month, the November cuts amounted to $11 each family member. And while both Johnny and Diana are employed, they make $600 and $754 a month, respectively, not nearly enough for even one person to live on. Both women are on food stamps—both have faced cuts on November 1^st—and have to make regular trips to the food bank to get by. Each of the three women has had to face a reduced Christmas, with the San Antonio Food Bank saying that despite an increase of 16% in food donations, supplies are going more quickly because of SNAP cuts.

The holiday season should be a time of giving and receiving but for millions of Americans, that’s just not possible. It seems as though budgets are getting stretched tighter all the time with no end in sight, and that can make Christmas and the New Year very tough for some families.