Judy Tiffany has diabetes. Her mom, Dorris Cotton, has celiac disease.
The Vancouver women are on limited incomes and, combined, they receive less than $200 per month from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They spend nearly every dollar on fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurt, eggs, cheese and milk.
If SNAP changes proposed in President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget come to pass, Tiffany and Cotton stand to have a portion of their cash-on-a-card benefits replaced with a pre-assembled box of canned and shelf-stable foods.
“That kind of box would never work,” Tiffany, 67, said. “(My mom) would never be able to eat 90 percent of the food.”
“Most of the things, I couldn’t eat,” she added. “Most of those things would be detrimental to my health.”
Other changes
In addition to replacing SNAP benefits with a box of canned and shelf-stable foods, the president’s proposal includes other changes to SNAP that would impact Washington residents, according to the state Department of Social and Health Services.
• Legislation would increase the age range for the Able Bodied Adults without Dependents program from 49 to 62. That means more people would be required to work in order to receive benefits.
• Single people with disabilities — about 77,000 people — would see a reduction in food assistance with the elimination of a program that provides additional assistance to people receiving Supplemental Security Income.
Potential health impacts, among other concerns, have prompted officials with the state Department of Health and Department of Social and Health Services to speak out against the proposal. Nearly 900,000 Washington residents — more than 300,000 of whom are children — receive food benefits.
“This proposal really takes the wrong approach to providing healthy, nutritious foods to our neighbors with limited resources,” said Amy Ellings, healthy eating and active living program manager at the health department.
The proposed “America’s Harvest Box” wouldn’t contain fresh fruits and vegetables but canned versions, which often come with added sugar and salt, Ellings said. Many shelf-stable foods — such as peanut butter and beans — are high in carbohydrates but don’t contain the vitamins and nutrients found in fresh foods, said Babs Roberts, director of the community services division at DSHS.
Generic food boxes also wouldn’t take into consideration dietary restrictions, allergies or cultural practices, Ellings said.
“We know that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to food options and healthy eating,” she said.
Reducing the amount of monthly monetary benefits will reduce recipients’ access to healthy foods and undermine existing state programs aimed at increasing access, Ellings said. One such program, the market match program, gives SNAP recipients a $5 match when they use their benefits at a farmers market, turning their $5 into $10.
Tiffany and Cotton take advantage of the program at the Vancouver Farmers Market to stretch their benefits.
“We buy a lot of produce at the market in the summer,” Tiffany said.
Despite their resourcefulness, Tiffany said she and her mother often have to visit a food pantry for additional food by the end of the month. Roberts questions whether the amount of food recipients would receive in the boxes would be equal in amount to what they could purchase on their own.
The president’s SNAP proposal doesn’t detail how recipients would receive the food boxes, only saying states will have flexibility to distribute the boxes. That’s worrisome for Roberts.
If boxes aren’t delivered to recipients, people who don’t have reliable transportation or who live in rural areas may not be able to pick up their food at distribution centers. The result would be people who need assistance opting out of the program, Roberts said.
The distribution uncertainties are troubling for Amanda Lampert, too. The Vancouver woman received SNAP benefits after her divorce, while working full time as an adjunct college instructor and raising her young child.
If the boxes were delivered, Lampert wonders how people without permanent addresses would receive them. Furthermore, people without a place to cook won’t be helped by a bag of dry beans, she said.
“People in poverty are people too,” Lampert said. “They have dignity. Their choices are already limited due to economic circumstance. The thought that anyone could think that taking from them the simple dignity of choosing their own dinner is beyond my comprehension.”
