The average Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participant gets $31.50 a week, just $4.50 per day. Many participants find themselves stretching this budget as far as it can go, meaning cheaper, less healthier foods, and higher health care costs for the country. Many SNAP participants supplement this food budget with food from food pantries supplied by agencies like the Capital Area Food Bank, but not everyone is being reached in this way.
SNAP participation has gone up dramatically in the past few years, meaning more people than ever are finding out just how far SNAP does and does not go. We applaud the initiative of elected officials like Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton to find out what it is like to live on a SNAP budget, in solidarity with the millions of Americans who make do with this reality every day.