Brighter Futures Begin with HOPE.

As the holiday season reaches full swing, families often gather together around food to celebrate and give thanks. Unfortunately, for too many families having enough healthy food to eat on a regular basis is a challenge, a fact which is only underscored by the burden of providing a special meal. Emergency food assistance programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) play a crucial role in fighting hunger and poverty in America by helping struggling families meet their food needs, and they will be an important part of making the holidays possible for many.
Emergency Food Assistance In Mississippi
According to data from the USDA, at 19.2 percent Mississippi has the highest prevalence of food insecure households in the country. Of these, 7.2 percent experience “very low food security,” meaning that both adults and children have to cut back on or skip meals because of a lack of food. [1] Organizations such as food banks or pantries and emergency kitchens help meet the immediate needs of these families by providing groceries for preparation at home or hot meals for consumption on-site as well as other services. The Mississippi Food Network, a member of Feeding America and a food bank serving the entire state, reports that the need in Mississippi is reflected in record-breaking numbers: they distributed almost 20 million pounds of food serving 1,342,710 people last year.[2]

SNAP in Mississippi
Efforts like these compliment federal nutrition assistance programs such as SNAP, which help families afford adequate healthy food and in turn allows them to spend on basic utilities, rent and other needs. Census data estimates that in 2011, 17.3% of Mississippi’s population received SNAP assistance in the past twelve months.[3] The change in SNAP enrollment between August of this year and August 2011 represents an increase of 4.2%.[4] Furthermore, the most recent data available shows that over 667,000 individuals and 303,000 households received SNAP benefits this September.[5]

The Challenge: Tackling the Causes of Poverty and Hunger
The ability of SNAP to expand or decrease in enrollment in accordance with the need dictated by economic conditions is a feature which makes the program an effective means of fighting hunger and poverty. While SNAP enrollment often parallels unemployment, it is worth noting that 75% of all people who receive SNAP for a year or less live in households with earnings. In this sense, SNAP is also a work support as it assists working families whose wages are insufficient to lift them out of poverty.[6]

Thus, it is important to understand that increasing enrollment in SNAP is a sign the program is working as part of a critical safety net for low-income families across the country, particularly as the economy continues its slow recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression. Protecting and strengthening programs such as SNAP and forms of emergency food assistance while focusing on tackling the underlying causes of poverty which drive participation in these programs is to remember the families who face hardship when the economy is poor, and those who struggle even when it is not.