Close to 42 million Americans (12.3% of the population) depend on SNAP, the main federal food assistance program in the United States of America (USA). With the closure of non-essential public services (shutdown), as there was no budgetary provision approved in Congress, this population was gradually left without what little they had. The situation was even more alarming in the southern states, such as New Mexico, where the percentage of registered people reached 21%.
In Alabama, the figure is around 15%, but given the income disparity, there are counties where half of residents receive aid. “I feel very sorry for these families. There are mothers who haven’t eaten for days to ensure that their children don’t go hungry”, he tells Expresso Marcy Fleming, member of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwestan organization that manages dozens of food banks in those disadvantaged regions.