"A friend recently told me a story that made this reality impossible to ignore. Her elderly parents live near an elementary school not far from the nation's capital. For several years, they had been quietly raising money to provide groceries and basic supplies for families whose children were going hungry. When Republicans suspended SNAP benefits, the need surged overnight. What had been a steady act of care suddenly became an emergency response."
"This meant that in the wealthiest nation on earth, school counselors - people trained to nurture children, not triage hunger - were conscripted into the role of deciding which children would eat and which children would be left to endure hunger. A nation that can feed its billionaires but not its children is not suffering from confusion; it is suffering from both a crisis of conscience and a system built to protect cruelty."
An abrupt suspension of SNAP benefits sharply increased hunger among schoolchildren near the nation's capital. Local volunteers and grocery donations enabled support for 102 children across four schools, but more than twice that many still needed help. School counselors were forced to choose which children received food, turning nurturing roles into triage for basic survival. The disparity between the nation's wealth and children's unmet needs highlights systemic economic unfairness that leaves families unable to afford essentials. The situation frames the problem as structural and moral: an economy organized to protect concentrated wealth allows preventable deprivation among children.
Read at Truthout
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