SNAP cuts will harm the hungry
To the Editor:
Yesterday a small but dedicated group of resistors gathered on the corner of Dillard Road and Main Street, here in Highlands. We engaged in a silent protest in response to recent cuts in SNAP and Medicaid benefits in the Big Beautiful Bill passed by the House of Representatives.
We posted lots of signage with statistics of what those cuts would look like in both North Carolina and Macon County. Otherwise, we sat silently holding empty bowls, symbolizing the hunger of our fellow citizens.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, serves over 500,000 households in North Carolina, or over 1.6 million people. These households, which are experiencing food insecurity and high food prices, represent over 10% of all households in our state. In rural areas, which include Macon County, it is as high as 16%, or one out of six.
Of the 500,000 households receiving food assistance, 80% are working families, 50% have children in the household, 36% are homes with older adults and 45% include people with disabilities. These are not people sitting in their basement playing video games, contrary to some congressional opinions. And more than likely you will know some of them.
With the poverty level being defined as a single person earning less than $15,650 a year or a family of four making less than $32,150 a year, how can we expect these people to afford the rising costs of housing, transportation, clothing and food? Why do we find it necessary to demean those who most need assistance to support their most basic needs?
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Yesterday, as I sat silently with an empty bowl in my hands, I couldn’t help but think about what it symbolized. My heart hurt thinking about what we were representing, and I found myself in tears. Even as I write this, I am deeply saddened to think about all the children who are undernourished, or poorly nourished, in our state. In our country. And in our world. And I think about our national leaders who would cut funding for food assistance. Is it possible they have never known hunger?
With proposed cuts to SNAP of $300 billion over the next 10 years, is it time to regard those leaders with the contempt they deserve and remember them by voting them out of the office? The simplest form of resistance is to vote. Please keep that in mind the next opportunity you get.
Margaret Pickett
Highlands
