Negative Stigma on Food Stamp Recipients

Negative Stigma on Food Stamp Recipients 
By: Daisy Macias

Introduction:

Many families receive help from the government in different forms. A widely known form of social services is by receiving "Food Stamps" also known as "EBT," "SNAP," or "TANF." Families apply to receive such help and if approved they receive the funds in a card monthly. This help benefits a lot of families with children and also many college students are dependent of food stamps to get by monthly. However, there are many people who view food stamps and those who receive it as something negative. People who receive food stamps are seeing as lazy and underserving. The recipients are also seen as people who do not work hard enough. These negative outlook on food stamp recipients drive people away from applying and being eligible to receive funds. This causes for many families to not have enough food or money for food which leads to malnutrition and other problems. The social help is available for a reason and if possible recipients are being driven away from it, that creates a problem for our society.

Research:

In the Los Angeles County there are 1,183,107 individuals that are recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Some interchangeably term for SNAP are food stamps and EBT. There is a certain criteria you must meet in order to be considered eligible for food stamps. One of the main requirements is to be a low income family or individual.  If you meet the criteria you must submit an application either online or in person. Once your application is received and approved you receive a plastic card, looks like a regular credit/debit card and all the cards have the same logo. Once a month, there will be funds available in the card which the individual is able to use in grocery stores. SNAP will only allow you to purchase groceries for the individual to be able to cook the food. SNAP is not accepted in fast food restaurants. SNAP also has a limit on how much junk food, such as soda, chips and candy you are allowed to buy a month. It is stated that out of all the possible eligible recipients, only 75% of them actually apply for benefits. This may seem as many people not applying, however, that means that 15% of individuals who are of low income are not receiving these benefits. This also means that 15% of individuals, which could be children, are perhaps not having enough food or money for the month, which may lead to malnutrition. As stated on the website, "SNAP benefits can be used to purchase all food products, not including: beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, or tobacco; any nonfood items; vitamins and medicines; foods that will be eaten in the store; or hot foods." Therefore, the funds in SNAP are designed to be used only for groceries. 

Personal:

As a child, my mother applied for SNAP and we depended on it for many years. At first, when my mom received that plastic card on the mail I did not think much of it. However, I soon began to realize ,by the looks of other shoppers in grocery stores, that having that card symbolized something negative in society. As I grew older I began to feel embarrassed by my mom using the card. I also remember that I hated it when she'd send me to the store and would make me pay with the card. As a child, I could not understand why we could not only pay with cash or a credit/debit card like majority of the people at the store did. Growing up I was not too much of a social person which in a way I considered that to be good for me because I was not teased by other students about things children are usually teased about. I do remember observing and listening to how other children would interact and tease other children. Some of the insults would be regarding the types of shoes you were wearing or the hairstyle you chose for the day. However, an insult I would often hear would be "His/her mom is on food stamps." I did not understand the insult much at first, but for some reason it meant that the child was less. The insult meant that the child was poor and had to receive social assistance. It was not until a couple of years ago that I really began to try to understand why is it that people view food stamps as something so negative, and why is it that people who are on food stamps are considered "lazy." Looking back through my elementary and high school years most of my peers and including myself would receive free lunch from school and no one saw that wrong and the  "free lunch program" can be considered social welfare assistance. When I started college many of my peers talked about their financial aid and no one looks at financial aid wrong and financial aid is also  social welfare assistance for college students. 
I have a few reasons why I decided to write about this issue, however, I will mostly talk about my main reason. I feel that people should not be embarrassed on having to rely on social welfare to be able to afford groceries. I do understand that there are many people who are not honest on their application and receive benefits, however, these people are caught and charged with fraud which results in having to pay a fine or jail time or both. There are many myths around food stamp recipients which are simply that, myths. The funds are there for a reason, the fund are there for people to apply and make use of them. People should not be driven away from applying and possibly qualifying for social assistance. As of right now, there is 15% of eligible individuals who are not receiving the help for whatever reason it may be. As a society we must begin to remove this negative stigma from food stamp recipients because in reality this issue affects us all in the long run. A way this affects us is for example, a family that is eligible for benefits does not apply because they feel embarrassed to rely on social welfare now has to rely on the community's food bank. Now, this eligible family in a way is taking away some of the community's scare resources that could go to a different family that is not eligible for food stamps. All of this is happening while 15% of the funds are being untouched. This will eventually create a chain reaction that if it continues or if it a bigger scale creates poverty for the community. All of this can be avoided by removing the negative stigma and not judging those recipients that need the funds. 
Now looking back at all those times that I felt embarrassed by my mom using food stamps to ensure there were enough groceries for myself and my sibling make me understand that what she was doing was the best choice in her judgment. I know that currently there are probably a lot of children going through the same thing right now. There are probably many children right now wondering why their mother or father just cannot pay with cash or a bank card and wondering why their classmates have to bring up the fact that they are on social welfare assistance. I feel that it is important to educate those people that lack information and knowledge on public assistance, which will make individuals drive away from putting a negative stigma on food stamp recipients. No individual should feel like this, instead they should feel that they have the support from their community by at not being judged because they must rely on public assistance. 

Members in the Community Affected by this Issues: 

Demetria Lacey

Ariel Mayo

Maria Ganivet 

"A lot of people believe that food stamps recipients are people living off the government, when in reality many of those people hold jobs that do not provide enough monthly income to last monthly expenses including groceries" 

References:

Cal Fresh (Food Stamp) Participation. Retrieved from: http://www.kidsdata.org/topic/742/food-stamps/table#fmt=2261&loc=2,127,347,1763,331,348,336,171,321,345,357,332,324,369,358,362,360,337,327,364,356,217,353,328,354,323,352,320,339,334,365,343,330,367,344,355,366,368,265,349,361,4,273,59,370,326,333,322,341,338,350,342,329,325,359,351,363,340,335&tf=84

SNAP: Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from: https://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/snap-frequently-asked-questions/