With the holidays coming up, the issue of feeding the hungry in America is highly discussed. You’ll start to see more requests for donations, gifts, and money to aid the poor and hungry in this country. However, the first steps we have to take to combat and reduce the number of people living in poverty in the United States (a number that was at 46 million in 2012) is to become informed on how the government is currently trying to attack this issue.
Many believe that federal aid in the form of food stamps or SNAP, the government’s Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program, is a failed system. However, the truth is that SNAP helps millions across the country, 15% of which are children, gain access to food. Nearly 15% of the entire U.S. populations receives assistance through SNAP. For every dollar in SNAP benefits that are doled out, $1.73 is generated for our economy.
Many believe that SNAP recipients are lazy and unwilling to work, but the truth is that 8% are elderly, 11% are disabled and 45% are children. Another key figure is that 58% of recipients live in a household with earnings from a job. The truth is that these programs primarily benefit the working poor. Additionally, any government funding is prohibited for purchase of alcohol or cigarettes.
Needing government aid is no one’s first choice. But it’s important that program’s like this exist to assist those who have fallen in hard times. To learn more about SNAP, America’s hungry and what the government is doing to reduce the millions of hungry, please keep reading. The infographic below, by Grocery Coupon Network offers a lot of surprising facts on food stamps, it’s recipients and who’s really benefiting.
