3 days Ago
Once a month, Brenda Blackmon’s SNAP card is refilled with $166. After one trip to Kroger, that money was gone, she said. Blackmon shops the sales.
She has a Sam’s Club card. She arrives early to score the two-for-one deals. And she cooks for her family before thinking about herself.
But lately, everything feels like it’s shrinking. “Even the Honey Grahams that I buy from the store feel like they are thinner, smaller, and you get less,” said Blackmon, 71, as she cooked a baked ziti for her three great-grandchildren. Brenda Blackmon cooks baked ziti for her great grandchildren on September 10, 2024, at her home in Chester, Va.
Margo Wagner It’s a common sentiment for the thousands of Virginians feeling the pinch of inflation . Pensions, jobs and plans that once seemed dependable are no longer cutting it in the struggle to make ends meet. It has squeezed the beneficiaries of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , the program formerly known as food stamps, particularly hard.
And nowhere is it more obvious than in the checkout lane. Inflation is a nationwide issue. It stuck to President Joe Biden like molasses, despite pursuing various efforts to slash the price of food, rent and medicine.
And it is one of the key issues defining the race to determine his successor. In Tuesday night’s presidential debate, former President Donald Trump described the United States as a country where Americans can’t even buy bacon anymore. His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has proposed a ban on grocery store price gouging.
Blackmon doesn’t think either can bring grocery prices back down to earth. “What can they do?” Blackmon said. “Nothing.
” So she regularly visits the Chesterfield Food Bank. Earlier this month, she arrived at a handout event at 6:30 a.m.
, where she waited in her car until 11 a.m. for two boxes of water, canned foods, soaps, and other household goods.
Angel, 2, gives his great grandmother Brenda Blackmon a kiss on September 10, 2024, at her home in Chester, Va. Margo Wagner Blackmon lives on a fixed income: retirement benefits and a stipend from Social Security. She served in the Army before being discharged with a back injury incurred during an early morning training session.
She moved to Virginia to be closer to her family, including her three great grandchildren, who come by regularly for her home cooked meals. Her ziti is a staple. “I don’t want to see them hungry,” said Blackmon.
“I can lose the weight but not them. They gotta go to school.” Currently the minimum monthly allotment for SNAP recipient sits at $23, and the maximum monthly allotment is $292.
Created in the 1960s, the program was intended to help low-income Americans. In Virginia, those who make under $30,120 may be eligible. For several years during the pandemic, the federal government supplemented SNAP benefits, by automatically giving the maximum.
That program ended in March of 2023. At that point, many Virginians lost a significant amount of grocery money. “We had people that were cut from $200 a month to nothing,” said David Waidelich, who oversees SNAP outreach with Feed More , a not-for-profit network that coordinates hunger relief throughout central Virginia.
Waidelich hesitated to advocate for any political agenda. But would restoring those benefits help his clients? “Yes,” said Waidelich. “Tremendously.
” Ari’elle, 9, and Rashad, 8, eat baked ziti while Angel, 2, runs to the table and Brenda Blackmon prepares a plate for him on September 10, 2024, at her home in Chester, Va. Margo Wagner Earlier this month, the Virginia nonprofit group PositiveAge released a study that portrayed a dire picture of seniors on SNAP in the Richmond region. Many seniors spoke anonymously about the decisions they’d become forced to make since their monthly SNAP benefits evaporated.
They told the organization about choosing between paying their bills or putting food in the house. Or, they do neither because they’ve had to prioritize medicine that month. Waidelich “Grocery prices have shot sky high.
My whole check goes to my rent, and they still only give me $149. That is not even feasible to make it through a week,” one participant said. “I am going from food bank to food bank just to eat.
” One senior told the group that there was a benefit to having diabetes: the Ozempic prescribed by their doctor staves away hunger. Melissa Andrews, CEO of PositiveAge, said the stories reflect a broader problem. “We can use the data from this Richmond-based project as a story that exists across Virginia, even though it's Richmond data,” said Andrews.
“This is real, this is what we’re seeing: Older Virginians are going hungry.” Brenda Blackmon spreads shredded cheese over a baked ziti on September 10, 2024, at her home in Chester, Va. Margo Wagner In August, the National Council on Aging estimated that more than 100,000 eligible seniors in Virginia miss out on SNAP.
In September, the Virginia Poverty Law Center — a not for profit that advocates for low-income Americans — called on legislators to make it easier to apply for the program. The group also called for raising the amount a recipient can receive each month. SNAP is a federal program, so much of what state legislatures can do is limited.
State lawmakers proposed bolstering the minimum SNAP allotment by $27 in 2024. The proposal, which would have cost an estimated $20 million, did not pass. State Sen.
Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, was one of the proposal’s authors. She says she’ll revive the effort in 2025. “This was important.
We’ve got an aging population, we’ve got folks struggling to meet rising expenses with the rising cost of rent, the rising cost of food. This would provide a little bit of relief,” said Hashmi, who is running for lieutenant governor. Brenda Blackmon hugs her great granddaughter Ari’elle, 9, on September 10, 2024, at her home in Chester, Va.
Margo Wagner On the federal level, the Republican-controlled House has proposed cutting federal SNAP dollars to the tune of $20.6 billion. The cut would pay for other programs intended to help U.
S. farmers. That proposal has drawn sharp criticism from policy groups who say SNAP should be strengthened .
Blackmon doesn’t want to appear ungrateful. “I don’t complain. I have to make it work, you know,” said Blackmon.
“Because if I don’t, we’re gonna have nothing to eat.” PositiveAge 04-01-1971 (cutline): Afternoon in the park-- With spring showing every indication of coming on stronger in Virginia, more people are getting outside to get together in the sunshine. On the other side of the lake in Forest Hill Park here, a young couple shares a park bench for some quiet talking.
The weather yesterday wasn't quite warm enough for spring, however. Teh couple also shares a blanket across their knees to protect them from the cool shade of the trees. Don Pennell 06-11-1971 (cutline): Sign warns visitors to Forest Hill Park of pollution.
Upper part of lake is fast filling with silt and debris. Staff photo 08-16-1977 (cutline): Taking No Chances-- Somebody's not taking any chances. A sign warning of thin ice at the lake in Richmond's Forest Hill Park apparently never comes down, even during days of 100-degree weather.
But it must work. Nobody's been skating there for sometime. Don Pennell 03-29-1948 (cutline): Young Richmonders search Forest Hill Park for 90 eggs hidden in annual Easter hunt.
Donnell Stargardt, 11, and Peggy Medlin, 6, were top winners in the lively competition yesterday afternoon. Staff photo 06-25-1950 (cutline): A school picnic follows "The Nature Trail," wading down to explore the bird sanctuary and wild flower preserve. TD Magazine 12-16-1958 (cutline): Snow lends picturesque touch to picnic area in Forest Hill Park.
Picnic tables, outdoor fireplaces are blaketed in white. Staff photo 01-04-1965 (cutline): Forest Hill Park Crawford 07-31-1971: Kids playing in Forest Hill Park. Don Pennell On Dec.
20, 1945, some merry youngsters whisked down a slope in Forest Hill Park on their sleds. TIMES-DISPATCH TIMES-DISPATCH.
