Throughout her remarkable life, Sally built a distinguished career as an artist while raising two children on her own. Her talent and passion for sculpture took her to Philadelphia, New York City, San Francisco, and even Italy on a Fulbright grant for a year when her kids were small. Now retired at 87 years old, she manages her budget carefully, but the high cost of food has made that increasingly difficult.
“Food is getting very expensive now,” Sally said. “I used to get by on much less each week.” Sally is fortunate to own her home, but beyond her modest Social Security and retirement savings, she needs a little extra help getting enough to eat.
That’s where SNAP has made all the difference. With $290 each month in assistance, Sally maintains a healthy diet, which is especially important given her high blood pressure. She makes her own bread, buys dried instead of canned beans, and enjoys meat in small amounts. Sally likes making meals from scratch, and now with SNAP, she can afford to eat well without sacrificing nutrition.
“It’s been a lifesaver. It’s made an enormous difference for me,” she said.
Applying for the benefits wasn’t easy. Despite being computer-literate, Sally found the form overwhelming. “The form is way too complicated,” she said. “I can use the computer, but that form drove me nuts.” Luckily, Sally had help navigating the process from CFBNJ’s Community Connections team.
In today’s economy, Sally worries about families who have difficulty putting meals on the table: “With the decline of good paying jobs, a lot of people are just one missed paycheck away from disaster, which could put them in a position where they don’t have money to buy food for their children. There needs to be a safeguard for people. Without that, children are going to go hungry, and that is disgraceful in this country.”
She knows how important SNAP is for seniors like herself, too. “Not everybody has children who can help them,” Sally said. “Many seniors don’t have very large nest eggs, and not everybody has enough in savings to cover expenses in this environment.”
With plenty of healthy food, Sally has hope. Her goal now is to organize a retrospective of her sculptures that celebrates her life’s work as an artist.
“Without SNAP, it would be very, very hard to get by,” Sally said. “I would have a very lean and Spartan diet.” Instead, she can live with dignity, nourishing both her body and her creative spirit.