All posts by shayna

Policy

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Then and Now

By Michael Mytrowitz & Zack Mulhern

The history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can be traced back to 1933 when the Agricultural Adjustment Act was signed, which gave support to farmers who fell on hard times during the Great Depression.

 

Over the decades, laws and regulations evolved, eventually leading to the creation of SNAP to help combat the Recession of 2008.

 

Today, SNAP is the largest food assistance program in the nation, assisting 14 percent of the country that are in need of food and better nutrition.

 

According to Rucha Gadre, the Director Mercer Street Friends’ Food Bank, their SNAP facility alone helps 10 to 15 households per month in Mercer County.

 

The government ensures the stamps are not used for foods that do not promote good health or considered luxury goods.

 

In order to get into SNAP there are certain requirements that need to be met. Gross income, family size, assets such as vehicles, housing and legal status, are looked at when someone applies.

 

Even though SNAP was made to help people who are in need of assistance the program has been criticized. There have been many cases of fraud and exploitation of the act. People sell the food stamps and in many cases that money is used on illegal or destructive substances.

 

"Ribbons" By Kevin Waverly
“Ribbons”
By Kevin Waverly

The SNAP program is not perfect as there are multiple regulations and requirements that can be very detrimental to those in need. For example, according to the Congressional Research Service July 2014 report, the SNAP-eligible gross monthly income is $1,245 or less per person. For a household of four, the SNAP-eligible gross monthly income is $2,552.

 

While these numbers seem very reasonable, the gross monthly income is the amount before any deductions are taken out such as taxes.

 

Say a single person working a very low paying job earns $1,300 of gross income monthly. Once taxes, social security and other deductibles are taken out, the actual dollar amount that the person is left with is only going to be around $1,000.

 

Think about trying to be an adult and feed yourself and provide yourself with basic needs and all you have is $1,000 per month. Not the easiest thing to do.

 

However, in certain permitting areas, some eligible candidates (elderly, homeless or disabled patrons) can actually go to a restaurant and get a free or discounted meal. This can be very valuable for people who are not always capable of cooking their own meal. Gadre detailed another flaw in the program that just appeared recently.

 

“What happened after October 2014 is that the utilities allowance was taken away from a lot of families,” said Gadre. “So the utility bill was not necessarily in their names. When you have an added expense which is not being accounted for and are getting less benefits, it is becoming harder for families to get by from paycheck to paycheck.”

 

Gadre agrees that the citizens are not completely satisfied with what SNAP has to offer.

 

Many people across the country rely on SNAP every single day. The program has evolved and continues to adapt to new regulations and social aspects. However, there are some things the program can do to improve and push the program to even greater heights.

Featured Story: Health, Policy

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Which would you chose?

By Katie LaBarbera

Imagine it is the middle of winter, it is 12 degrees Fahrenheit outside on this particular day, and including the windchill, it feels like -5 degrees Fahrenheit. Many people hibernate in their homes with the heat on full blast, wrapped in a blanket sipping hot chocolate in the warmth. Now imagine a delicious, extravagant home-cooked meal. There is juicy steak, savory mashed potatoes, salad and a colorful assortment of steamed vegetables. But you can only have one: heating or food. Imagine choosing between having heat in your home and having food. Which would you choose?

 

According to the N.J. Federation of Food Banks hunger survey “49% of emergency food clients in N.J. report having to make the decision between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.”

 

Making the decision between paying for food and paying for utilities is not the only struggle people face. The difficult decisions people are also forced to make include paying for food or paying their rent or mortgage, as well as deciding between food or medical care.

 

Putting food on the table should not mean sacrificing other necessities. People use the money provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for other reasons besides purchasing food. Granted that there may be some loopholes within SNAP, the program has positive aspects that work toward the overall goal of ending hunger.

 

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federally paid program that provides food purchasing aid for low to no income individuals and families living in the United States. This program is one of the largest in domestic hunger safety. So large, that about 48 million people utilize the program.

 

The program aims to help eligible people in assisting them to make nutritional and informed decisions about food. SNAP recognizes that New Jersey is one of the largest populations of SNAP recipients in the country, with numbers nearly doubling nationwide in times before a recession.

 

According to the website, www. povertyprogram.com, half of all American children will receive SNAP benefits before age 20, proving how much of an impact this program has on people.

 

"Floating Tree" By Daniel Brady
“Floating Tree”
By Daniel Brady

On the other hand, as stated previously, many people do not have the means to provide both food and heat in their homes for their families. According to the 2012 USDA Analysis of FNS’ Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Fraud Prevention and Detection Efforts, many recipients take advantage of the SNAP program by trading their benefits for cash or such things that are banned by SNAP, like cigarettes and liquor.

 

Moreover, such fraudulent accounts may occur due to the fact that SNAP denies recipients hot foods. Go back to that cold winter night; a hot bowl of soup or a warm meal would certainly make a huge difference in someone’s life. Because there are no hot meals being served, it is arguable that the food SNAP does offer does not meet optimal nutritional standards.

 

In addition, SNAP has recently been under scrutiny for changing their requirements for eligibility. This change is so drastic that about a third of families will be affected, and no longer qualify for their food purchasing assistance services.

 

According to Hank Kalet, a writer for N.J. Spotlight, “The change in eligibility … is the result of the cancellation of a utility allowance for about 159,000 New Jersey Families.” That is a huge number of families that are left without a way to put food on the table.

 

No child should wonder when their next meal will be and no parent should have to worry when they will be able to put food on the table for their loved ones. Being forced to make the decision between paying for warmth in one’s own home and food should no longer be a reality.

 

The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program is aimed at helping people not only get food, but also  to have access to quality information about food. Despite recent complications with eligibility, SNAP is making progress to end hunger across the nation.

Community, Sufficiency

A Personal Narrative: “Not All Bad Here.”

By Essence B. Scott

 

The experience with homelessness I remember most clearly was when my family lived in the Trails End Motel when I was eight and a half, almost nine, years old.

 

Imagine: You are in the middle of nowhere, on the side of the highway. A few minutes up was a diner. Nothing in the way of grocery stores or laundromats. New Jersey Transit didn’t serve this area of New Jersey we were in, so getting into Trenton, where we were from, was difficult. The only way we could get to Trenton was by taking a cab, and that was pricey: $60 for four people.

 

When we were homeless, people were kind, which made the experience less painful.

 

My room mother from my elementary school came to the motel my family was staying in and gave us toys. Things had gone wrong with the money my mom had saved up that Christmas. It was our first Christmas in a place not quite a home, and we weren’t expecting to have anything. This mother and her daughter, who was one of my friends, came at night and bought us all these toys. I will never forget that. I think that’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for my family.

 

My school nurse gave us gift certificates, which we used at the diner up the street.

 

We ate at that diner every time we got a certificate and we would order breakfast: pancakes mostly, but anything was a break from the canned goods we ate daily. The diner was small, but everyone there was really nice.

 

While homelessness is clearly nothing that should be celebrated, I remember my mom had made the experience a little less hard on my siblings and me.

 

We couldn’t do much because we were in the middle of nowhere. But the memories I do have are of my mom working hard at being a cleaning lady, of visiting one woman who also lived in the motel, of playing with the occasional child who lived there, the people on the outside who would help us.

 

I was never abused or neglected, and living in a motel is not something I am eager to experience again, but I remember my mom who was always trying to make it a little better for us.

 

Getting our own apartment after that was like stepping into an air-conditioned room in the middle of August.

 

We could have meals like meatloaf or meatballs. We could have ice cream. We could have cereal and soda and whatever else we wanted because we finally had a refrigerator. We had our own beds. We had cable — lots of channels, most I’d never heard of. Soap Network? HBO Family? An East and a West channel, meaning I could watch the same show twice?

 

All of this was so strange, so surreal. But I loved it. Finally, a bed to myself! More space! What could be better than that?

"Seaside High" By Sharon Jackson
“Seaside High”
By Sharon Jackson
Community, Featured Story: Justice

“It is as simple as one wish.”

By Emery Gewirtz

A day at the movies, new clothes for school or your own laptop. These are simple things a lot of us take for granted. When you were growing up did you ever think of where your dollhouse came from or what it took to have that new videogame? A lot of the time, children in foster care do not have these simple pleasures.

 

According to the website of the National Foster Care Coalition, every year around 254,000 children enter foster care. The foundation One Simple Wish works hard to support children who are becoming a part of the system. One Simple Wish does not want these children to get lost in the shuffle; instead they work to help them be seen as individuals.

 

Danielle Gletow, who is a foster mother herself, founded the organization in 2008. She, along with many volunteers and donors, has helped over 35,000 children to date. In 2013, CNN named Gletow amongst their “Top 10 Heroes.”

 

Gletow’s goal is to have kids be kids. Sometimes even the most basic wishes are the most meaningful to a child. Gletow sees children as full of endless possibilities. They can all can be extraordinary if they are given the tools to explore, grow and find out who they are.

 

One Simple Wish is a village of people who care about children. There are multitudes of people who volunteer time, donate money and of course, grant wishes. Anyone can be a fairy godmother to these children by granting a wish.

 

"Bird House Series 4" By Kathy Bird
“Bird House Series 4”
By Kathy Bird

The beautiful thing about this organization is that it shows people can care deeply about others they will never know. If you just ask for help, a lot of people will answer the call.

 

Sarah Dale, the Community Relations Manager, said, “It is a an incredible journey. People care about the little things that bring normalcy to their lives.”

 

From a personal standpoint, Dale said, “I have kids and I can’t imagine my kids walking through even a portion of what these kids walk through.” This is why she has worked hard with One Simple Wish to grant nearly 99 percent of all wishes.

 

“Some people can’t be foster parents, but I can give my time to support them and draw attention to who they are as people and not who they are as a statistic,” Dale attested.

 

One Simple Wish also goes beyond helping children in foster care; they make sure the children are cared for after they leave. According to the website of One Simple Wish, more than 20,000 children age out of foster care each year with little to no support. At age 18, these children have no family, no siblings, no relatives and no mentors to turn to.

 

This foundation is needed because these are the children in critical need for real attention. According to the organization’s website, “Children who age out of foster care are several times more likely to end up homeless, addicted to drugs or incarcerated.” Furthermore, the website states, it is estimated that more than 250,000 prisoners in the United States were once foster children. The average child in foster care remains in the system for more than two years, living away from their family, friends and familiar environments.

 

Over 8,500 wishes have been granted since the organization opened it’s doors.

 

“It takes a lot of effort and takes a lot of people coming together,” said Dale. “But it gets done.”

 

So sometimes, perhaps, it is as simple as one wish.

 

One Simple Wish 1977 North Olden Ave, #292 Trenton, N.J.  08618 Phone: (609) 883-8484 Email: info@onesimplewish.org Website: www.onesimplewish.org

Education, Op-Ed

Homelessness in Trenton Schools

By Aphrael Boltas

History teacher at Trenton Central High School, William Pyper, recalled a student he had during his first year of teaching AP courses in the Trenton School District who was homeless.

 

Pyper said that she was a gifted student and had received a full scholarship to attend Carnegie Mellon. She nearly missed her opportunity when she needed to send in a deposit to the school to hold her place. However, Pyper said he was not going to let her pass up the chance, and offered her the money to pay the deposit. She attended the University that fall and even paid Pyper back with a refund from scholarship money. He said that she was one of the only students that he didn’t cut any slack who was in that situation and only because “she didn’t need it.”

 

Homelessness is an increasing issue for students in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in the 2012-2013 school year, over 1.2 million students were identified as homeless. In Trenton, homelessness is a tricky subject. Several teachers at Trenton Central High School spoke to me about their encounters with students who they knew or suspected to be homeless, how they responded to the students, and how they adapted their teaching style to better suit the students’ needs.

 

History teacher, Matthew Russell felt that the more pressing problem was poverty; that students would have a home, but there was not always food or other basic necessities.

 

Additionally, often times in Trenton, as well as other areas, students are less often homeless than they are staying with extended family or friends. This can bring a different  set of problems and can overshadow schoolwork.

 

Another recurring theme was that teachers felt a desire to help. Several teachers mentioned giving students money for food, or bringing in coats for them when the weather was cold. Nearly all of the teachers said they adjust their teaching style in that they become much more lenient when dealing with students who are experiencing homelessness. They understand if students are tired in class or if their work isn’t always in on time. They try to recognize that schoolwork is not the number one priority when you are worried about where you are going to sleep or eat after school.

 

"Getting Ready To Fly" By Charles Smith
“Getting Ready To Fly”
By Charles Smith

Literature teacher, Kathy Mulcahey, said that she would never communicate with the student about experiencing homelessness directly, but if she felt that a student was struggling, she would “understand if they were sleeping in the earlier classes and make sure that they had something to eat.”

 

Most of the teachers I interviewed said that they hadn’t had too many of these students, about four or five suspected over their teaching career. One teacher said he heard that there are about a half a dozen a year out of about 2,000 students at the high school level in the district. Whenever they had a feeling that they had a student in this situation, they did their best to offer help.

 

Through my different interviews it became clear that homelessness is certainly a serious issue that can cause a range of struggles for students and interfere with their learning. Poverty is prevalent in the Trenton School District. The sentiment among each teacher I interviewed appeared to be, regardless of shelter: if a student is worried about where they will be getting their next meal, they’re not focused on their academics.