I had a conversation yesterday at Facing Hunger Foodbank’s mobile distribution event at South Shore’s Rotary Park with Cheryl Brown, who lives in South Shore, Kentucky, and she is struggling with trying to secure her disability payments and is subsequently currently not working. With no current income, Cheryl was visibly concerned about what the future might hold with the government shutdown currently underway, having no end in sight. As a SNAP recipient whose benefits are likely to be delayed in getting to her unless the federal government reopens, she shared how this will impact many people in her household:
“My son is drawing disability from his father, and that’s all of the income we have right now. If we don’t get the EBT funds, we won’t get to eat.”
It’s Cheryl’s understanding that whatever funds remain on her EBT card at the end of October will still be able to be used next month, but unless the government shutdown ends, she won’t have any additional SNAP funds to use for food.
“It will make things pretty hard, and we won’t be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I have a 16-year-old son, and he’s a growing boy, and he likes to eat a lot, so that makes all of this scary.”
Cheryl reported that there are currently eight individuals living in her household, and she’s the only SNAP recipient among those she lives with. She said that all of her family members rely on the SNAP funds she currently receives. Her message to elected officials who aren’t able to come to a consensus on when the government should reopen is pretty simple: “Think about others and not just yourself. You’re impacting everyone with your decisions. There are a lot of people out here that are struggling.”
With her SNAP benefits running out and with the federal government unable to come to a resolution, Cheryl said she’s worried about the future: “This is a big deal because I’ve never really had to struggle like this. I worked for years, and in the situation I find myself in now, this is just crazy.”
Cheryl referenced lots of prayer as her source of strength during these troubling times.