Here is how Debora has been living without SNAP when government shutdown hits.
$200 a month is what the DHS determines is enough for Deborah to get by. That’s what she gets monthly in SNAP benefits – $200. It doesn’t stretch far.
Deborah is disabled. It started with diabetes, which she wasn’t able to get proper treatment for. Diabetes led to a heart condition, the heart condition led to triple bypass surgery, and the surgery ended with chronic neuropathy.
For 26 years now, she’s been unable to work.
After nearly three decades of pain, all Deborah can say is “It’s been rough.”
Managing diabetes, a heart condition, and neuropathy requires a highly specialized diet. The kind of diet that eats through $200 fast. Deborah says, “The food stamps don’t go anywhere. By the time I buy three or four meals, they’re gone.”
Three to four meals isn’t much, but it’s support Deborah has come to rely on now for quite some time. It’s support she has based the rest of her life around. It’s support that is now at risk.
“They’ve cut them out,” Deborah says, in reference to SNAP benefits being halted due to the government shutdown. She had to come up with an alternative. A friend told her about a Second Harvest Mobile Pantry. She could hardly believe there was a place she could get free produce, pantry staples, and more – no questions asked.
She left her house at 4:00am to get in line. She was worried she might miss her only chance at groceries this month.
After filling her car with food, she shared, “This has been a blessing to me. I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
$200 a month was never enough, but losing it meant everything. For Deborah, the Government Shutdown isn’t about politics. It’s about survival.
That’s what it’s like living without SNAP when government shutdown hits.