Action Alert: Help Us Advocate for Families During COVID-19
Did you know that food stamps provide 10 times the relief offered by local food pantries? Both are necessary to feed families dependent on the minimum wage. Now–more than ever–we need to do our part to ensure resources are accessible to families who have been financially devastated by the global health crisis we are currently facing.
We urge you to please call your federal legislators and ask them to support Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Leader Schumer in making food stamps a priority for programs in any COVID-19 package.
When you speak with your legislators, let them know we need to:
- Increase the average minimum monthly benefit by 15%;
- Increase the minimum SNAP benefit from $16 to $30;
- And suspend SNAP administrative rules that would terminate or weaken benefits.
Find your federal legislators’ contact information here.
Feeding low waged parents and children while the coronavirus spreads is a huge challenge. Nationally, the World Central Kitchen is training cooks and farmers and feeding hundreds of thousands of people without jobs and unemployment insurance.
Our towns have smaller charities that feed hundreds of people such as My Brother’s Table in Lynn, MA, Haven from Hunger in Peabody, MA, and Daniel’s Table in Framingham, MA. If you drive by these food pantries, you’re likely to see long lines stretched around at least one block. The federal government has added $450 million to help food pantries. We need millions of dollars more.
While we are very grateful to our local charities, we need a well-funded flexible federal food stamp program to prevent starvation. Presently, only 6 states allow the on-line purchase of food with food stamps. Many parents and the disabled have to go to market with their children and so face exposure to the virus. In addition, current eligibility practice requires an interview and proof of having a job.
States need flexibility in granting food stamps to parents and seniors and free school meals for children because so many parents are unemployed and have no money to buy food. So, we ask again, please consider calling your federal legislators today.
Thank you for your continued support of our most vulnerable populations, especially during these challenging times.
