Elsy Cipriani & Laura Milliken: SNAP: Strengthening New Hampshire’s families and economy

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is more than just food assistance — it is a vital tool that keeps New Hampshire stable. Think of it as a community insurance policy. It protects hard-working families when life takes an unexpected turn, like a sudden illness or a job loss, and helps the local economy stay strong during tough times.

There are many myths about who uses SNAP and how people use SNAP, but the actual data is illuminating. Most people use SNAP as a bridge, not a permanent fix. About 64% of working-age adults use the program for two years or less. In 2024, SNAP helped about 76,000 Granite Staters (6% of households). The average benefit is only about $5.49 per day. It’s meant to supplement a grocery budget, not replace it.

Furthermore, most people on SNAP who can work, are working. Roughly 77% of New Hampshire SNAP households include at least one person who is working. For them, SNAP fills the gap between low wages and the rising cost of groceries.

For Manchester resident Peri, whose compensation simply wasn’t keeping up with the price of groceries, SNAP has been a critical supplement. He, and thousands like him, were left having to make difficult decisions between paying for food or paying the electric bill or the mortgage.

“We could see that our finances and savings were waning because we were spending so much on food,” Peri said. “It surely is a relief to have the additional funds for food and essentials.”

The human component can get lost in the daily news cycle. There’s real people behind these statistics. These are your neighbors.

After extracting herself from a 20-year abusive relationship, Maddie, a Nashua resident, found herself on her own and with limited resources. She doesn’t know what she’d have done without SNAP.

“Food banks can’t duplicate what SNAP gives you,” Maddie said. “They can’t give you everything you need, food for the entire month. Food security is just a basic human need and to have that taken from you, and then you don’t know what you’re going to do to fill that hole, it’s difficult.”

SNAP doesn’t just fight hunger; it saves the state money in the long run. When people eat better, they are healthier. This correlates to fewer expensive hospital visits and better management of chronic diseases thereby lowering health care costs for all Granite Staters.

SNAP leads to greater success in schools by helping kids get the nutrition they need to focus and learn, leading to better grades and a brighter future for New Hampshire’s students.

Finally, SNAP dollars are spent at local grocery stores and farmers' markets, keeping money flowing through our local economy.

The backdrop for all of this is the reality that food insecurity is on the rise here in New Hampshire and nationally. Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs, reported earlier this year that nearly 150,000 New Hampshire residents, including 36,000 children, experience food insecurity. The study noted 10.7% of all New Hampshire residents experience food insecurity — that’s one in nine people.

In response, the New Hampshire Food Bank — New Hampshire’s only statewide food bank — has increased food distribution by more than 13% year-over-year.

While our local food pantries and food banks do amazing work, they weren't built to handle the problem of hunger on their own. Consider that for every one meal a food pantry provides, SNAP provides nine.

Protecting SNAP isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s the smart thing to do. It keeps our workers healthy, supports our local shops and farms, and ensures a short-term struggle doesn't become a permanent state of hunger for the people of the Granite State.

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Elsy Cipriani is the executive director of the New Hampshire Food Bank and Laura Milliken is the executive director of the New Hampshire Hunger Solutions.