Sultan: Cutting off food to hungry families, hurting farmers

She and her husband, a 69-year-old retired truck driver, take multiple medications daily for chronic health conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure. They get by on $1,600 a month in Social Security, once their health insurance costs are deducted. That covers rent, bills, car expenses, health care costs, with not much left over for food.

Brown, 65, used to receive $250 a month in food benefits, but that was slashed to $49 this year.

She’s not sure why her benefits were cut. She relies on the food provided at the Bread of Life Pentecostal Apostolic Church, 2001 North 11th Street, every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. — except the first Wednesday of the month. It’s one of nearly 600 pantries that receive food from the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

“When we ran out, this was our help,” Brown said, who also volunteers at the food pantry to help others. A long line starts to form outside on Wednesdays. The patrons include working parents, grandparents, the disabled, veterans and those without stable housing. In 2023, 13.5% of Americans struggled at some point to secure enough food. That’s the highest rate in nearly a decade, according to USDA data.

President Donald Trump’s federal funding cuts are hitting food banks when the need for food assistance is surging. That administration has cut more than $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for two programs that help local farmers, schools and food banks. The Trump administration also wants to cut the agency’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which gives low-income families debit cards to purchase food.

In Missouri, more than 666,800 people received SNAP benefits in 2022. In Illinois, the cuts would impact about 1.9 million people. The number of people who rely on food banks is even higher. The Feeding Missouri network of food banks helps more than 1 million Missourians annually through a network of more than 1,500 community feeding programs.

Beyond families and individuals who need help with food, the cuts will also hit farmers.

The cuts to the USDA include about $421 million for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, and about $660 million for Local Food for Schools, a program that allows states to buy food and distribute it to schools and child care facilities. St. Louis Area Foodbank says it has purchased over 600,000 pounds of food from Illinois farmers, providing approximately 500,000 meals to Illinois families through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.

Brown said the fresh produce, bread and canned goods she gets from Bread of Life food pantry makes “a very big difference” for her and her husband. She recently had to visit an urgent care due to chest pains. The co-pay for that visit will cut into their tight monthly budget.

“We have to work it the best way we can,” she said.

Pastor David Battle, whose congregation runs the food pantry, said they rely on the St. Louis Area Food Bank distributions, among other partners, to keep their shelves stocked. When he heard about the federal cuts, he wondered how many people would lose food benefits they need to feed their children.

“That’s going to impact us,” he said.

Reading about cuts to food pantries and SNAP during Ramadan, the Islamic month of daily fasting, hits close to home. When you allow yourself to feel sustained hunger, you recognize what it does to your body. There are days while I am fasting when I can feel acidity burning in my stomach and my head pounding. It’s harder to concentrate, and fatigue sets in more easily. Thankfully, we have food to break our fast in the evenings during Ramadan. But far too many people in our country lack the food they need to live without the pain and fear of hunger.

The fact that these cuts for hungry adults and children are happening while these same political leaders want to give permanent tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals in the country is obscene. A morally bankrupt society tells its neediest citizens to go hungry while giving the richest more cake.

Would you rather have your tax dollars help the Brown household or billionaire Elon Musk?

I know who I would pick, hands down.