Photograph Source: Office of Joyce Beatty – Public Domain
My mom’s cooking is the best. I know everyone may say this, but truly — no one can compete. The flavorful meals I grew up with and that I often shared with friends and family are some of my fondest memories.
Wanting to be a great cook like her, I would often watch closely as my mother went grocery shopping. Every item placed into the cart was intentional. I watched as she made precise price calculations and swapped between products. I quickly realized that every meal my mom whipped up came from a shopping trip that felt like mission impossible.
Growing up, my family relied on SNAP, or “food stamps.” The benefits were modest, and there were limits to what you can use them on — hence my mom’s careful shopping. But despite that, SNAP meant having food on the table — and impressive recipes that brought people together. It meant one less impossible choice at the end of the month.
I no longer rely on this vital program that kept my family afloat, but millions of other families do. However, a year after the passage of the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” millions of families are now facing a future of impossible choices.
Since the bill’s passage in July 2025, SNAP participation has dropped by 10 percent across the country. In some states the effects are amplified. In Arizona, for example, SNAP participation fell by 51 percent. And in the coming months, those figures are likely to rise.
These statistics are not just numbers — they’re people not being fed.
Before the new law, SNAP helped feed 41.7 million low-income Americans per month, 62 percent of which were families with children. The program has been linked to improving child health, educational outcomes, and reducing child poverty. SNAP also benefits local economies, with each dollar in federally funded SNAP benefits generating $1.79 in economic activity.
Yet the “Big Beautiful Bill” cuts nearly $190 billion from SNAP over 10 years. And it adds paperwork barriers like work requirements. Most SNAP recipients who can work already do — these requirements just make it easier for eligible people to lose benefits even when they still need help.
The effects of losing SNAP are devastating. “We lost our SNAP and my family struggled a lot,” one New York resident told me. They lost benefits for six months because of paperwork and logistical errors. “We had to make a decision between getting food or paying our rent.”
Joseph Myers, a 58 year old Minnesota resident, works 10-12 hours a week at the state’s Senior Community Service Employment Program. Under the expanded work requirements, adults up to age 64 (previously 54) must meet an 80-hour monthly work, volunteer, or training requirement to keep their benefits.
For Myers, who has struggled to find work he can physically do, that requirement puts his food assistance at risk. “It gives me a headache, big one,” he told Minnesota Public Radio. “We’re not doing real good.”
Even those still receiving benefits have seen dramatic reductions. Shelley Gaither, a 51-year-old mother of three in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania who has a disability that keeps her from working, saw her monthly benefits cut from about $400 to $200 while raising three sons. “Now, the money I used to pay for electricity and water has to go for food,” she told the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. “This makes surviving more difficult.”
The drop in SNAP participation is expected to only worsen. The law will soon shift costs for the program to states, which will force many more people off the program. This is the largest reduction to the SNAP program in history — and some 4 million people a month are expected to lose some or all of their benefits.
SNAP helped keep my family fed, but it also helped provide joy and memories, despite the struggle. Cutting the program means empty fridges and cabinets — and skipping meals, stretching already stretched resources.
By taking this resource away, it means millions will be forced into impossible choices.
