The government shut down on Nov 1. Because of the shut down, food stamps got cut off.
Food stamps have supported families for multiple decades. Since the inflation of food, clothes, gas, etc. food stamps have come in a huge role to many families.
It gave families the freedom without having to worry to choose whether or not to have hot water in their homes or a month’s worth of groceries. But now that the cut off started back in the beginning of November, families have started to worry, knowing that after this month, they will not be able to afford food.
Students have spoken out that since the shortage their families have started to stress since they do not know when they will get more money for food.
“I think the shortage has already affected my mom, she’s starting to get stressed cause we usually relied on food stamps a lot. This year for Thanksgiving I won’t make as much food as I did in the past year,” said an eighth grade SEMS student.
The main thing with the food stamp being cut off was that it was right before Thanksgiving, a holiday centered on food.
“I feel bad ‘cause I know not a lot of people are financially stable and don’t have a good job to be able to afford food on their own,” said seventh grader, Noah Fields.
He said that he couldn’t think of any other ways people could replace the main thing about Thanksgiving, the food, since such a big thing about the holiday is the big feast.
Good news towards those families, there are multiple ways they can still get their food for the rest of the month and thanksgiving. Families can go to food drives, food pantries, soup kitchens, churches, The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), etc.
“Normally we do a canned food drive for families in need, the city donates 10 turkeys. But this year people donated 36 turkeys. And parents who received the food were able to get the turkey and a gift card. This year teachers donated the cans and we were able to fix up the food into nice boxes with goodies. We call the parents and give out those boxes.” Said Ms.Ruby who works at the parents center.
Families can still enjoy Thanksgiving, a holiday about gratitude and being thankful. This crisis can bring people closer than ever.
