Maggie works in a clerical position at a small insurance firm. It is a reliable job, but does not pay well. Her husband, Nick, is unable to work due to an illness. Together they have two boys in middle school. They are growing fast, and seem to be always hungry. Maggie pays their rent on the first of the month, and the payment on the family’s very used car on the second. Not much is left by the third. Even on pay day there is no guarantee that there will be food in their home without help.
Maggie and Nick are real people, although we’re not using their full names to protect their privacy. They are not alone: One in six Oklahomans and one in four Oklahoma children struggle with food insecurity. The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma work together to provide more than 64 million emergency and supplemental meals every year to hungry Oklahomans. We also connect thousands of our clients to services to help them rebuild their lives through SNAP, job training and health services.
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The devastating floods from recent hurricanes remind us how quickly our situation can change. They further serve to prompt us that hunger is not a political issue, it is a humanitarian one. Everyone deserves to eat. With 47 percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck with little to no savings, the risk of hunger is closer to many of us than we realize.
This is why we oppose recent proposals in Congress to cut critical food assistance programs like SNAP.
Every public dollar is precious, and SNAP has been one of our country’s most widely supported and important tools for lifting millions of people out of poverty. SNAP also supports Oklahoma’s economy, bringing more than $884 million into Oklahoma grocery stores and other food retailers each year.
In addition to all the resources that Oklahoma’s food banks offer, SNAP provides essential food assistance to Oklahomans during their greatest time of need, more than all of the state’s charitable efforts combined.
Just last year, SNAP helped 874,873 Oklahomans (54 percent of whom were children), or 14 percent of all Oklahoma households. Nearly two million U.S. veterans put food on the table through SNAP. With an average term of use of eight to 10 months, SNAP is a vital temporary support for millions of Americans.
President Trump’s budget proposal calls for $193 billion in cuts to SNAP over 10 years, and the pending House Budget Resolution mandates $10 billion in cuts and recommends an additional $150 billion. This would bring about the most dramatic and dangerous reduction in the availability of food for vulnerable Americans in recent history. The food banks simply could not fill this gap. This kind of reduction would seriously harm the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans.
Please join us in speaking up for the most vulnerable people in our state — children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families who struggle to have enough to eat. Call on Congress to support a budget that keeps the federal nutrition programs working.
Together we can fight hunger in Oklahoma.
Katie Fitzgerald is CEO of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Eileen Bradshaw is executive director of the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
