Melissa Shadden-Cyr: Defending SNAP benefits because people need to eat

To The Daily Sun,

On May 27, Chris Johnson asked "if SNAP recipients do not have transportation to get to work, how do they get to the store to purchase groceries and use their SNAP benefits?”

First, some don’t. Individuals without reliable transportation or with limited mobility often use services like Walmart Plus, or Doordash to have their groceries delivered. Others may have friends do some grocery shopping for them. Those with better mobility may be able to occasionally walk or bike ride to a local grocery store to buy a backpack’s worth of food at a time (note that stores like Walmart are often not in walking distance for most people due to zoning laws).

Second, an individual may be able to get to the grocery store a few times a month by paying the minimum cab fare ($25 round trip), or relying on friends or family members for rides when they need something. However, paying cab fare for employment is not tenable for most people. Increases in earned income would quickly be drastically offset by the cost of transportation to work and the reduction in benefits that would go into effect 30 days after their employment began. Furthermore, many people ― SNAP recipients or otherwise ― do not have someone they could reliably count on to get them to work every day.

Chris also wonders why SNAP recipients don’t work at Walmart or Market Basket. While SNAP is used by many workers or job seekers (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities), those who aren’t working often face barriers to employment, including transportation, spotty job history, criminal records, undocumented disability, and mental illness. Some even face aesthetic barriers, e.g. notable dental problems may pose problems in the employment process. Bottom line: People need to eat, and it’s our moral responsibility to feed them.

Melissa Shadden-Cyr

Laconia