10 Myths About the Food Stamp Program (Which Congress is Trying to Gut)

About a year ago, I wrote about my family participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Challenge, which encourages families to try to live on the equivalent of SNAP assistance (food stamps) for one week. It was a growing experience for all of us, and we actually fell short of our intended goal. It turns out that it’s not easy to feed a family of four well — especially without great time and effort — on less than $20 a day.

In looking back on that experience, a number of myths come to mind that I’ve heard from folks about SNAP, which I thought I’d share here.

Myth #1 — SNAP is a welfare program.
Actually, it’s not part of the welfare system. It’s intended specifically to help low-income individuals and families eat healthfully, which ultimately is a proactive investment in health care that yields long-term benefits for all of us.

This article was written as an exclusive piece for Sojourners. To read the full story, CLICK HERE.