With Thanksgiving now in the rearview mirror and the weight of finals looming heavily over us all, we students will likely degrade into a cluster of anxiety as opposed to reminiscing fondly on this past holiday.
But this piece isn’t about the bountiful feasts, warm homes and lazy mornings from which many of us have returned. This piece is about the families who didn’t have a Thanksgiving.
Now, before you react with, "Oh great, another article to remind me of all the starving people from — insert third-world country here — and how I should better appreciate what I have," consider this: All we’re going to do is engage a much-needed conversation about food insecurity, a euphemism for hunger or inaccessibility to proper nutrition, in America. Here we go.
In 2013, 49.1 percent of Americans lived in food-insecure households, and in 2014, one in five U.S. children relied on food stamps for nutrition.
As if this couldn’t get any more depressing, the holiday seasons are known to be particularly hard on food-insecure families. Cooler days mean higher heating bills, and the break from school means kids are at home full-time and unable to access free school breakfasts and reduced lunches.
One might ask: How did we get here? The economy is by and large improving. What gives? The answer: funding and welfare reform.
In 2010, Congress cut $2.2 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) in order to fund Michelle Obama’s campaign for healthy school lunches, which served as a bandage rather than a holistic solution. Furthermore, in 2014, under pressure to increase farm subsidies, the Obama administration signed off on an $8.7 billion cut over 10 years to SNAP programs after already committing to a $5 billion cut in 2013.
In concert with these funding cuts is Newt Gingrich’s 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which calls for a three-month time limit for an unemployed individual to find work before his or her SNAP benefits are removed.
In times of high unemployment, such as after the 2008 Great Recession, states can waive the three-month time limit, which is why the reform act wasn’t much of an issue before. But now that unemployment is at 5.5 percent, many states are moving to drop the waiver, which will put an estimated one million Americans at risk of losing all SNAP benefits by the end of 2016.
You may find yourself scratching your head, as I did, thinking, "How can food insecurity be on the rise while unemployment falls?"
Well, the falling unemployment rate fails to account for those who are severely underemployed or those who have given up their job hunt because of a lack of education, experience and accessibility to job-training programs.
In a sort of dark, twisted fantasy, we’ve proven more successful in fighting a war on poor people than a war on poverty.
In the end, those left to carry the weight are food banks and local charities. According to an August 2015 Associated Press report, food pantry groups reported a stark increase in demand for food this year compared to last year, and this holiday season will only exacerbate the need of food-insecure homes.
So, we can all sit around and hope Congress will resupply SNAP funding or amend the Welfare Reform Act’s three-month time limit on SNAP benefits for the unemployed, but let’s be real: Neither will happen anytime soon.
What we in the Gainesville area can do is act collectively, in small feats, to aid our own food-insecure and homeless. So, in these last two and a half weeks before students turn this place into a ghost town again, take a moment to reach out to groups like the St. Francis House and ask what you can do to help.
What’s a few short minutes for a good deed? In my estimation, it’s a small price to pay for working toward a life less frightening for others.
David Hoffman is a UF history and physics sophomore. His column appears on Tuesdays.
