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Although she has received federal food aid for about 15 years, Elizabeth Blume, who lives in Madison, has never eaten state cheese. But she’s heard horror stories from people who’ve eaten the orange’s gelatinous substance.

Today, federal nutrition programs no longer rely on surplus dairy products to feed food-insecure Americans. Eligibility requirements have been relaxed, payment options are simpler, and the current system offers users more choice and dignity.

While Blume, 39, has more choice than previous merchandise recipients, it’s still difficult to maintain a balanced diet with food donations and FoodShare benefits.

“Healthy eating should be a basic right for everyone, but it isn’t,” said Blume.

Before the pandemic, the $155 a month she received in FoodShare benefits made it difficult for her to purchase foods that met her dietary needs, such as: B. 5 gallons of $5 lactose-free milk.

Instead, Blume often sticks to cheap groceries like rice and potatoes, and relies on food donations.

“You just feel more tired,” said Blume. “You feel drained. Your digestion isn’t quite… up to par. (But) you have no choice.”

Inadequate performance is not the only hurdle. Participants must go through a complicated process to apply for and keep food aid. And they continue to face social stigma for participating in a program that has existed in one form or another for nearly 90 years.

A senior official formerly responsible for administering Wisconsin’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare, says the process is hopelessly complex for the people he seeks to help. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 eligible individuals does not participate in the program, reports the US Department of Agriculture.

“I’m a well-educated, smart person, (and) that was my job, and if I had to apply for benefits, I would be challenged to do it,” said Rebecca McAtee, who led the program at the Department of Health Services from 2016 to 2021.

Benefits vary nationwide

Each state differs in how it counts wealth, whether it requires work, and how often recipients must report their income to renew benefits. This may interest you : Oregon’s state inspection program ranks 28th in the nation.

Wisconsin’s program requires able-bodied recipients between the ages of 18 and 49 to work at least 80 hours per month, attend vocational training, or engage in job-seeking activities. Exceptions apply to recipients who have a child in the household and primary caregivers of people who cannot take care of themselves.

All work requirements have been waived since the pandemic, but the waiver expires on September 30.

In Wisconsin, recipients cannot reach more than 200% of the poverty line or risk losing FoodShare. A single recipient cannot earn more than $2,148 per month or $25,776 per year to qualify for assistance. A family of four cannot make more than $53,016 a year.

Over the past two decades, the percentage of Wisconsinites using FoodShare has more than doubled, from 6.8% of the state’s residents in 2001 to 15.7% in 2020.

And state funding for Wisconsin’s FoodShare program in 2021 totaled $2.1 billion — by far the highest in a decade. This has raised concerns among Legislative Republicans that the state is overspending and potentially discouraging work.

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Frustration sparks food stamps program

The federal food aid program has changed in many ways since its inception in 1933. During the Great Depression, America faced two crises: hunger and plenty. To see also : Wow Bao now offers food through high-tech vending machines. As impoverished families starved, crop prices plummeted and farmers were left with surplus food. In response, the federal government bought up surplus food and distributed it to those in need.

But the food that consisted of what farmers and manufacturers overproduced offered little nutritional balance. Families lined up to receive massive amounts of basic necessities, from canned goods to perishables like cheese and potatoes. They ate the same foods for a month before the next box arrived.

Since federal food assistance programs were first introduced, users like Blume have expressed dissatisfaction with them. The frustration of the recipients of the goods, combined with the lobbying of the food industry, led to the creation of the first food stamp program in 1939.

In the early days of the program, families spent their monthly grocery budget to buy food stamps. Buying $10 grocery stamps included buying $10 orange stamps to buy groceries and $5 blue stamps to buy government-designated surplus groceries.

It also exposed users to a social stigma.

“People used to get paper meal tickets, go to the grocery store, and get separated in lines from people paying with cash or checks,” recalled Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Milwaukee-based Hunger Task Force.

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Food stamps made permanent

Twenty-five years after the introduction of food stamps, President Lyndon Johnson made them permanent in 1964 as part of the Democratic President’s War on Poverty. See the article : Record inflation and skyrocketing prices leave more than 6 million Sri Lankans food insecure. The Food Stamp Act also allowed users to purchase a variety of foods, not just surplus produce.

The food stamp program was opt-in, meaning states and counties could choose to issue food stamps, continue with the merchandise system, or provide no support at all. Even as state and local governments implemented the program, people with no income or irregular income often couldn’t afford to buy stamps, said Laurie B. Green, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin.

As a result, according to the influential report Hunger, U.S.A.

Some progress toward greater accessibility was made in 1971, when President Richard Nixon’s Republican administration provided free food stamps to those most in need. Three years later, it doubled the average benefits users received and mandated states to implement it.

However, the new program had its downsides, with some participants having to pay up to 30% of their monthly income upfront to receive support. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, corrected this problem by ending food stamp purchases. Instead, recipients received specific amounts of food stamps based on income.

In 2002, the EBT system replaced physical food stamps and allowed recipients to pay for groceries with funds preloaded on a card. In 2004, Wisconsin renamed the stigma-laden food stamping program to FoodShare.

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‘Doing the right thing’

Growing up in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, Britnie Remer used to be angry at her single father for not “doing the right things” to escape poverty. He worked several grueling jobs to provide for them – but the family still needed FoodShare to make ends meet.

She said to herself: “I will make different decisions and (…) my life will be different and I will not fight.”

But in college, Remer realized it wasn’t that easy, despite having two full-time jobs, he had $40,000 in student loan debt. Later, after years without welfare — and still without a degree — she re-enlisted with FoodShare.

Today, Remer, who now lives in Wausau, is chair of the Wisconsin Poor People’s Campaign, which fights systemic poverty. She believes food insecurity is a symptom of a system that fabricates scarcity and “priorities for profit over human life.”

Although Remer understands this, she still suffered from the social stigma of poverty. It was evident when her father pulled out the green Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, the form of payment used by FoodShare recipients, at grocery stores.

Searching for solutions

During her tenure as FoodShare director, McAtee recognized the complex and often lengthy nature of the application process, including extensive paperwork, interviews with a caseworker, and notifications when a recipient’s monthly income rises above 130% of the poverty line — even if by just one percent dollar .

Blume is familiar with this topic. She was once denied federal food assistance because she exceeded the monthly income limit by $6.

FoodShare’s overly complicated bureaucracy makes it difficult to make significant changes, McAtee said. She favors streamlining the program to make recipients eligible for other federal programs eligible for FoodShare.

In the meantime, it’s been frustrating for everyone involved, McAtee said, adding it was one of the reasons she left.

“You can only bang your head against the wall so many times before you finally think, ‘This is too much,'” McAtee said.

Chris Kane, director of customer service for the Society of St. Vincent DePaul Madison, has noted government inaction in tackling food insecurity during his 26 years with the charity.

“I’ve always believed myself that it’s really the government that should take care of the people and make sure that people don’t have to go to a charity place to get food,” he said.

Expansion sparks debate

Just as food stamps began as an emergency response to the Great Depression, sweeping recent changes to food aid programs have been prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Trump administration had planned to cut funding for federal food assistance but instead increase all SNAP recipient households to the maximum benefit based on their income level and family size. Now, a no-income household of two adults and three children could get $768 a month — about $240 more than before.

The move, part of a “robust” federal response, has fed people despite widespread unemployment, said Judi Bartfeld, project coordinator for the Wisconsin Food Security Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

When some pandemic measures expired in 2021, President Joe Biden’s administration permanently increased average SNAP benefits to over 25% above pre-pandemic levels, or a nationwide average increase of about $36 per person per month — the largest permanent change in the program since 1979, when Carter repealed food stamp purchases.

But in Wisconsin, pandemic-era measures that have helped alleviate food insecurity may be short-lived. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers introduced Assembly Bill 935, which would have reintroduced labor requirements for obtaining FoodShare.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive expansion in the size and scope of state welfare programs,” Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said in a heated hearing on AB 935. “You can get all kinds of money now on these programs, with more people than ever.”

Given the contentious disagreement over food assistance policy, Bartfeld doubts that pandemic-related action will become an integral part of Wisconsin’s approach to tackling food insecurity.

Bartfeld said: “There’s interest in making access to food much more streamlined and less restrictive, and there’s interest in really restrictive policies, and I don’t know if either of those things are going to gain traction right now.”

Former University of Wisconsin-Madison student Rachel Clark contributed to this report. The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) works in partnership with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news outlets, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Any work created, published, posted or distributed by Wisconsin Watch does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Finding food aid in Wisconsin

Those earning less than the maximum income requirements can receive EBT credits to purchase groceries through Wisconsin’s FoodShare program at dhs.wisconsin.gov/foodshare/.

Use the 211 Wisconsin website to find a pantry near you by dialing 2-1-1 or texting your zip code to TXT-211 (898-211). You may want to call ahead as pantry opening hours may vary.

For those 60 and older, Meals on Wheels will deliver meals to you and anyone living with you who also qualifies. You can find the Meals on Wheels program near you by searching their website at www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/find-meals. Requirements vary by program and areas served, and there are some dine-in options for mobile seniors.

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