Members of our nation’s armed forces may face their toughest battle right here at home: hunger.
A new Defense Commissary Agency report shows that military use of SNAP benefits (formerly Food Stamps) is twice that of civilians. A military.com article reports that more than $31 million worth of food stamps were used at commissaries nationwide in 2008, an increase of more than 25 percent since 2007. Although SNAP participation generally follows the economy—as the economy goes down, participation goes up—the increase in military usage contrasts starkly with the overall increase in SNAP participation of just 13 percent.
SNAP is the cornerstone of the federal government’s nutrition safety net. In addition to supplementing low-income households’ diets through the provision of funds that can be used to purchase food at grocery stores, SNAP also has a nutrition education component which helps families make informed decisions about healthy eating.
Feed The Children supports a strong federal nutrition safety net led by SNAP, the largest and most expansive of the USDA-administered programs. At the same time, however, Feed The Children will also continue its efforts to bring food and personal care items to low-income families across the country. Getting all Americans through these difficult times requires a partnership between charitable feeding programs and government assistance.
