SNAP provides more help to Americans dealing with hunger and food insecurity than any other program. Food stamp rules vary somewhat from state to state, but SNAP is first and foremost a federal program; Congress determines the main rules on who can get SNAP benefits and how much. Congress is now debating updates to those rules as they work on renewing the legislation for SNAP in the Farm Bill, which is due September 30, 2023.
SNAP legislation only gets updated every five years. Congress must seize this opportunity to make needed improvements and steer clear of harmful restrictions.
About This Project
We want elected officials to hear your SNAP story and learn from your experience so they can make SNAP better for everyone. If you are a Pennsylvanian who has experience with SNAP, we need you to tell Pennsylvania’s members of Congress your SNAP story: the specifics of how SNAP has helped you and the ways you think SNAP should be improved.
We are putting together a booklet of these stories to document how SNAP impacts real people. We are also hosting a virtual meeting on August 31st from 10:00-11:00 a.m. we are inviting all 17 Pennsylvania members of Congress to where you can share how SNAP has impacted you.
How SNAP Needs to Change
Here are some of the federal rules that we, as anti-hunger groups, frequently see impacting the lives of SNAP households. This is not an exhaustive list:
- How much in benefits households can receive
- Which expenses are counted, including a limit on how much can be counted in shelter costs
- If the government will reimburse stolen SNAP benefits
- Special rules that limit eligibility for college students
- Rules that limit eligibility for some legal immigrants (despite many myths, undocumented or out-of-status immigrants cannot receive benefits for themselves)
- Time limits for unemployed adults without children
- Income limits not accommodating many working families who need assistance
Some of these issues were touched on in this booklet our coalition did documenting the harm of losing the extra pandemic SNAP payments.
How You Can Help:
We are looking for SNAP recipients from across Pennsylvania to share what works, and what doesn’t, about SNAP. Your involvement in this project will consist of:
- A staff member of an organization in our coalition (listed below) interviewing you about your experience
- Working together on a written statement to be shared in print, online, and with members of Congress
- Working together on preparing a shorter 2-minute version of your story
- Speaking at a virtual meeting with your member of Congress about your experience
- Being willing to have your story shared publicly, using your first name publicly
We can provide a small stipend for your time and effort.
For an example of how your story can help, see Linda’s story about SNAP, which we also sent to members of Congress.
If you want to get involved in the SNAP storytelling project in PA, please fill out the form below.
What organizations are working on this project?
Just Harvest, Central PA Food Bank, Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Philabundance, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA, Second Harvest of Northwestern PA.
