Guest Column by Dylan Hewitt and Claire Shimberg | SNAP back to reality

At Penn, where spending $9 at Chipotle is nothing, $15 at McDonald’s is a funny drunk mistake, a few dollars for Wawa mac ‘n’ cheese is simply a necessity and being surrounded by free food is a given, it is hard to imagine not having enough money for food. But for the 47 million Americans — 87 percent of whom live in households with children, seniors or people with disabilities — who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, hunger is a reality.

However, SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp program, has recently become a highly debated issue. On Nov. 1, cuts were made to SNAP that reduced the subsidy amount for each recipient. House Republicans have proposed a $40 billion reduction in nutrition assistance over the next 10 years, while Senate Democrats are only calling for $4.5 billion worth of cuts. Either way, SNAP is likely to be scaled back, putting millions of vulnerable Americans further at risk.

In anticipation of the upcoming holiday season, we decided to take the SNAP challenge — a commitment to only spend $31.50 on food for the entire week. While living on a SNAP budget for one week does not nearly come close to the everyday challenges faced by low-income individuals and families, it does offer a new perspective and greater understanding of those challenges.

We have quickly learned what it feels like to live on an extremely restrictive budget, to forgo fresh fruit and vegetables, to embarrassingly put something aside in the checkout line when one thing rings up more expensive than expected, to fall asleep hungry, to hear stereotypes of the poor reinforced by peers and, most awkwardly, to say no when a friend asks to grab lunch or go out at night.

Above all, this week has quickly reinforced the notion that we did not get to where we are today alone. Whether it was with the support of our parents, the guidance of a teacher or a little bit of luck, we did not make it to Penn by ourselves — and furthermore, we are not food secure because of our own efforts. Many of us are not SNAP recipients solely because we were born into fortunate circumstances.

As we head into Thanksgiving, we challenge the Penn community to be conscience of our privilege. We rarely have conversations about class and how it affects life at Penn. This is not to say that we do not work hard or that we do not deserve to be where we are. Rather, we should be truly thankful for all with which life has blessed us: food, family, friends, shelter, education and much more.

Let us join hands to give thanks, acknowledging the forces that have helped us thus far and, in doing so, join together to become a force that supports those who need help most.

Dylan Hewitt is a senior studying communications and public service and a first-year MPA at the Fels Institute of Government. Claire Shimberg is a senior studying urban studies. They can be reached at dhew@sas.upenn.edu and sclaire@sas.upenn.edu.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.