Imagine a world where seniors don’t worry about their next meal. Sadly, 5.5 million older Americans live this worry every day. They struggle with not having enough nutritious food. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offers hope. It’s a key program by the USDA that helps people in need, making sure they have access to healthy food.
SNAP helps low-income people and families. It gives them an electronic card to buy healthy food at grocery stores. For a one-person senior household, the average monthly benefit is $1181. Thanks to recent updates, benefits have gone up by 25%2. However, even as poverty among seniors rises to 14.1%, less than half who could get SNAP benefits actually do1. Learning how SNAP works could be a game-changer, helping more seniors get the food they need.
Understanding SNAP: A Critical Support in Combating Food Insecurity
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is key in fighting hunger in America. It’s run by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. The program provides benefits to buy food, helping ensure families get the nutrition they need.
About 40 million Americans rely on SNAP each month to eat healthily3. In 2023, it aided roughly 42 million people each month. It uses 1.84 percent of the federal budget4.