SNAP Benefits Make a Difference for Crystal’s Household
When Crystal shops at Community Food Share, she’s thinking of everyone waiting at home — her daughter, granddaughter, and the rest of their family of ten, five adults and five children, all doing their best to get by under one roof.
She first came to Community Food Share after a friend told her about it. “At the time, we had all lost our jobs. We were desperate,” she remembers. “We didn’t know what we were going to do.”
That was three months ago. Since then, Community Food Share has become a lifeline for her family, especially as SNAP benefits have been disrupted by the government shutdown. “SNAP is the main source of food in our house,” Crystal explains. “All these kids depend on it. We are struggling without it.”
Now, with those benefits halted, Crystal faces impossible choices. “It’s huge. It’s deciding whether you’re going to pay your bills or buy groceries,” she says. “Some bills will get half paid and some not at all because feeding the kids comes first.”
The impact stretches into every corner of their lives, especially with the holidays approaching. “Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be a little bit harder this year,” she admits. “It’s going to crunch down on everything.”
Still, she finds comfort in knowing she’s not alone. “Community Food Share means so much,” Crystal says. “You help families get the things we can’t afford; fruits, vegetables, milk, grains, proteins. Real food that keeps us healthy.”
She’s also moved by the generosity of others across the community. “Anything that anyone can give right now is everything,” she says. “There are so many people without food who don’t know how they’re going to get it.”
Through all of it, Crystal finds strength in her family. “Being together gives me hope,” she says softly. “As long as we have each other, we’ll figure it out.”
And her message to those who may never have to make these kinds of choices is simple but profound: “I hope they never have to. I hope they never have to choose between paying bills and feeding their family. Food isn’t optional. It’s not a want, it’s a need. Food, water, shelter — that’s survival. It’s a basic human right.”
