Refrigerators Are Empty This Week

Forty-two million Americans lost food benefits two days ago. Not abroad. Not in the future. Here, in the United States. Right now.

Our news cycles aren’t 24 hours anymore; they’re about eight hours. Stories rise, peak, and disappear before most people have time to process or fact-check them. We absorb so much information that it’s impossible to keep up, let alone connect the dots.

So…here’s something that deserves a few minutes of your time:

If SNAP funds are released soon (“maybe” Wednesday, according to Treasury Secretary Bessent), it won’t be instantly distributed. EBT cards aren’t credit cards, and these systems are state-run, preprogrammed, and automated. It will take more than a week (or two) before benefits are available to recipients. Again, that’s when the funds are finally released.

Meanwhile, remember this: people are not about to lose SNAP benefits; we’re already there. We’re on Day 3 of 42 million Americans who have zero dollars on their EBT cards to buy food for themselves and their families tonight.

Put that number into perspective:

• That’s more than the populations of California and New York combined.

• It’s one in eight people in this country. Meaning someone in your life is receiving SNAP, whether you know it or not.

• It’s people who are underpaid. Teachers, childcare workers, and hourly employees.

• It’s who we’ve promised to take care of: veterans, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

• It’s also millions of people who’ve been laid off, furloughed, or can’t find steady work right now, and every dime is going toward keeping a roof over their families’ heads.

• They have no savings to fall back on. They aren’t lazy, waiting for handouts, or “scamming” the system. They aren’t faking disabilities or falsifying documents to be considered elderly.

SNAP benefits are around $6 a day per person. Not $6 per meal. That’s $6 total. (Dependent on additional factors). Imagine being a parent with two kids. You’ve got $18 to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three people today. You skip meals so your kids don’t have to.

Now take that $18 away.

That’s what’s happening right now. To 42 million people. People who’ve contributed, paid taxes, and cared for others now face empty cupboards while the system catches up.

This isn’t about politics or policy. It’s about dignity. It’s about being able to eat. It’s about not having to hear your kids cry because they’re hungry.
It’s about remembering that hunger is a human issue, not a political one.

If your refrigerator has food tonight, be grateful. For millions of Americans, it’s emptier than should be acceptable in this country. Ever.

(Thank you to the food pantries, volunteers, and businesses helping Americans when they need it most.)

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