In a Wealthy Country, We Don’t Need to Let People Go Hungry
Most people know exactly what kind of help they need — and sometimes it’s food.
I have a friend I’ll call Kaye. She has Type I diabetes and as a result, is vision impaired. She suffers from a gastrointestinal disorder that requires a special diet. In her early sixties, she’s effectively unable to work due to her vision limitation and general health. She has disability funds that barely meet her monthly expenses — for renting her small house and paying her utilities. And she relies on two sources of assistance to help with groceries: SNAP, which gives her roughly $250.000 a month on her card, and which doesn’t cover a whole lot of essential non-food items; and our local Roadrunner Food Bank, which dispenses a weekly food box. It’s not nearly enough. It’s never enough. She always runs out, and there’s never enough money to buy things she really needs, like personal clothing and toiletries.
With today’s astronomical food prices, $250.00 a month isn’t nearly enough for anyone, and people living in the situation my friend faces can’t afford to supplement their grocery budgets with leftover pocket change. Kaye’s weekly Roadrunner food box is only marginally useful for someone with specific dietary needs — and some weeks, it’s entirely unuseable, and she gives it all away…
