At the grocery store check-out lane I placed a tray with a dozen cans of beef ravioli on the belt. The young man bagging my purchases said, “You must really like ravioli.” Before I could reply the checker replied, “He does this all the time. Leave the cans in the tray.”
Yes, on a regular basis I buy major amounts of canned pasta, spaghetti sauce, tuna, cereal, pasta, rice, boxed meal stretchers, bar soap and other basic items. Each Sunday my wife and I donate to our church’s food pantry, as well as gathering goodies for my friends at Circle Of Concern.
Often our church bulletin notes a critical need for certain things, as does Circle’s newsletter. The harsh reality remains that most every pantry about Missouri struggles to get enough food to share with all those needing help.
Ironically, the community response has been to open more pantries. In recent years many pantries have opened in schools – for example, the Parkway School District now runs a pantry out of a middle school.
Why? Well, the need for free food continues to increase.
At the same time, the federal government and the state of Missouri keep cutting food stamps (officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The cuts are overt, such as the USDA revision to the formula trimming benefits in Fiscal Year 2018, or, camouflaged such as changes to the Thrifty Food Plan standards to justify benefit increases below the rate of inflation.
As I’ve noted, Missouri went from a staff-based system of county offices helping families to a Call Center model. Under the old system some St. Louis County workers had 1,400 SNAP households on their caseloads…we call those the good old days. Since the Call Center system took hold the number of Missourians receiving food stamps has plummeted, from 881,000 in 2013 to 703,000 in December 2018.
I expect that Missouri will have fewer than 700,000 stampers when the January 2019 report comes out – the fewest SNAP participants in the state since March 2004!
Missouri ought to have around 900,000 people receiving food stamps. (Based on a 13.4% poverty rate in 2017 against a population of 6.23 million, plus a nudge for families between 100% of poverty level and the food stamp line at 130% of poverty). The gap between the number who get food stamps and the number who should get help taxes pantries.
So, in the midst of this increase in pantry demand while SNAP withers, what is our legislature doing? Taking steps to kick another 40,000 citizens off the food stamp rolls.
Senate Bill 4 from Sen. David Sater (R – greater Branson), for example, is one of several work tracking proposals moving in Jefferson City. Simply stated, most adults age 16 to 60 would have to work 20 hours every single week to qualify for stamps. Get sick or work, say, at a school district which doesn’t pay cafeteria workers over the Holiday break and one week with less than 20 hours of paid work means two months without food stamps for the family. After the third strike the family is permanently banned from SNAP.
The way around that ban?
A household disqualified under this act may reestablish eligibility if the head of the household leaves the household, a new and eligible head of the household joins the household, or the head of the household becomes exempt from the SNAP work requirements during the disqualification period.
Yes, for the kids to get fed the parent would have to abandon the family. (Don’t Republicans used to claim they were pro-family?)
The Fiscal Note attached to SB 4 projects that 40,000 Missourians will lose benefits due to the rules. That will include many who are actually meeting the requirements but may have employers who won’t verify data in a timely manner, and, moms staying home to care for sick kids.
At the hearing on SB 4 state Senator Andrew Koenig (R – West St. Louis County) defended kicking families off the rolls as a “useful incentive” to get people working.
Alas, I think there is a very strong probability that SB 4 or a similar bill will pass. Hurting poor people is one the Republican super majority’s goals acquired from the Heritage Foundation, the Foundation for Government Accountability and the Heartland Institute.
Perhaps those highway signs at our borders ought to say, Welcome To Missouri, The Pro-Hunger State!
By the way, I know that canned ravioli and canned spaghetti sauce and such have lousy nutritional profiles. The struggling families needing food seem to appreciate them.
I guess I’ll be buying that stuff for pantries for the rest of my life.
Glenn
It always amazes me that the Republican party sees denying poor people food as a path to fiscal responsibility and economic contribution. Andrew Koenig was a subsistence level house painter before a donation from a billionaire promoted him to a career as a legislator. His words though accurately reflect the ignorance of the inherited ultra-wealthy.