Tanisha Madhukar - Week #6 - Oh SNAP!
SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and it feeds almost 42 million Americans every year. SNAP benefits are a government program that provides low-income families enough funds to buy necessities, especially food. However due to a government shutdown and funding issues SNAP benefits have been reduced by 50%. This has caused national uproar as citizens are struggling to make ends meet. People have turned to social media to voice their concerns and complaints and as a result something beautiful has emerged.
While procrastinating doing this blog I was mindlessly scrolling through my TikTok feed. I came across a video of a person making sandwich bread. I like bread, so I stopped to give it a watch. As the video played the baker began elaborating about the government shutdown and the decrease in SNAP benefits, which is what began to intrigue me. At the end of the video the baker left his audience with one last message. He emphasized the importance of community; in order to be part of a community one must be willing to sacrifice for that community.
This ideology led me to think about the importance of unity in times of political instability. A common trend found throughout history is when a group of people are being undermined they come together to push for reform. Facing the government often makes us feel helpless since we are under the impression that we are alone, but the reality is that millions of people are similarly affected by the government’s decisions everyday. It is important to recognize the voice you have as a resident in America and the best way to change the government’s way of thinking is to force them to see your presence.
In the meantime, with the rise of chaos amongst the country's government it is important to stay united. Whether it is lending a neighbor some sugar or volunteering at a food bank, doing anything to help your community is beneficial.
I actually saw a similar video about how Americans were losing access to food, so a man and his kids set out to help them. When the dad was explaining how many families and individuals were not able to get food, the kids wanted to help in any way possible. And so, they went to the grocery store, bought food that would last long periods of time, and set up a free community food bank, just on their neighborhood street. After only a couple nights, around 70% of the food was gone, and the dad kept buying more food to add to the bank. The reason for the video itself was that the dad had made a video filming himself crying after he had received multiple thousands of dollars in the mail in an envelope. There was no name on the envelope, but simply a note thanking the dad and telling him to continue with what he was doing. Multiple people also sent him videos of them setting up their own food banks. This relates to your mention about the importance of unity in times of political instability. This video really got me thinking about how without the help of selfless individuals like this, those affected by the issues that plague our country won't be able to survive. The way that the government is now, facing it alone is useless. I completely agree that realizing that millions of people are in the same situation and banding together is the best way to spark change, starting from local communities.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanisha! While I was looking for my CE news article, I found numerous articles about this and how Trump was finding ways to not have the shutdown affect the military, but continued to say there was nothing he could do about the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP. This honestly shocked me because like you mentioned, so many people rely on the food supply and this would affect them terribly. It is really amazing to see how unity is taking place and so many people are coming together. I feel like one beauty about social media is that it can help people connect over the same interests, especially political ones such as this. A voice is heard much better when people come together, as it is both figuratively and physically stronger. On a side note, you mention that you saw a video of someone making sandwich bread, were they literally making bread? That's really cool when I think about it because I honestly don't know how to make bread and know when I don't have anything to do I would love to. (I really like bread too, specifically sourdough).
ReplyDeleteHi Tanisha! I heard something really familiar about SNAP benefits however I was ignorant to the fact of how important these SNAP benefits are for American citizens. My family doesn't rely on SNAP so I had not have much exposure with them so I truly did not realize how big an impact it was when they reduced them by 50%. I really liked the idea that even though we may feel like we are alone in our struggles, their are actually people struggling just as much trying to get by. Doing a little more research, I have learned that the reasons these SNAP benefits are gone is because of the government shutdown. This is honestly disappointing as we rely on the government to govern and in their failures they have let down and caused the suffering of millions of people throughout the United States.
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