Time - USA (2021-03-15)

96 Time March 15/March 22, 2021

result, in part, of a pattern of prejudice
dating back decades. Until the 1960s, for
instance, some states, including Louisiana
and Illinois, denied Black families with
children a cash benefit, a precursor of the
modern program Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF), if their labor
was needed during harvest season. White
families were often exempt from the cut-
off. “Because it was Black families who
had worked in the fields or chopped cot-
ton, it was only Black families whose as-
sistance was withheld,” says Elisa Minoff,
a senior policy analyst at the Center for
the Study of Social Policy. Through the
1970s, the federal food-stamp program
also penalized the poor by making fami-
lies buy food stamps, some of which could
be used only on items that the Depart-
ment of Agriculture had deemed surplus,
like cornmeal and beans.
Anderson takes the opposite ap-
proach, asking local donors to avoid
stocking the fridge with excess “scraps.”
Instead, the fridges are stuffed with
high-quality foods, like prepared spa-
ghetti and meatballs from a local Italian
bistro or grass-fed beef from a nearby
farm. “Why are you undeserving of good,
healthy food and rich-nutrient food just
because you can’t afford it?” she says.

While SNAP and other federal food-

aid programs have changed substantially

since the ’60s, they still leave millions of

Americans struggling to get enough to

eat. A single person making more than

$1,064 a month after taxes does not qual-

ify for any SNAP funds at all, and those

who do qualify often can’t feed their

families on the amount provided, which

maxes out at $2.60 per meal. Food-

justice advocates also point to other

factors—like the dearth of good grocery

stores, outreach to vulnerable commu-

nities and reliable public transit in low-

income areas—as contributing to the

problem. Troy Bike Rescue, where An-

derson is trying to set up another fridge,

is a 31-stop bus ride and transfer from

the nearest supermarket. In Garner, N.C.,

52-year-old SNAP recipient Karrie Nel-

son says her current $200 monthly food-

stamp allotment—almost twice as much

as usual, thanks to the pandemic-relief

increases—is less problematic than the

fact that she can’t afford a car and pub-

lic transit is insufficient. She estimates

that she spends $450 per month on ride-

share apps to commute to and from her

job at a local grocery store, where she

makes $12 an hour. “I can’t save be-

cause I’m spending half my paycheck

SPECIAL REPORT

WOMEN and the PANDEMIC

●

Anderson picks

up groceries from

Honest Weight

Food Co-op, left,

and potatoes

from Denison

Farm, right, to

fill the fridges

Average amount

SNAP provides in

food stamps, per

person per meal

Approximate

proportion of

food-insecure

Americans in 2020

SOURCES: CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY

PRIORITIES; FEEDING AMERICA

1 IN 6

$1.39

FOOD

INSECURITY

by the

numbers