Going Hungry Is No Joke: Down In The Weeds With SNAP And EBT ... As Local Families Struggle With Food Insecurity

A social service organization IMPACT presented to our AIO (Aging in Oracle) group in the Oracle Community Center a couple of weeks ago. Based in Catalina and funded by the Golden Goose, a very popular thrift store stocked by donations from SaddleBrooke, SaddleBrooke Ranch and Eagle Crest, IMPACT raises beaucoup bucks for projects serving vulnerable populations. AIO organized the event as part of our campaign led by Sue Parra, Elvia Acuña Schwenke and Diane Clark to bring more resources to our town.

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The Patio Cafe and Market accepts EBT (formerly food stamps). It’s a pain in the neck for small businesses to initiate but Stacy and David stuck with it and figured it out. (The EBT card is used like a debit card to purchase food with Nutrition Assistance benefits, and withdraw Cash Assistance benefits from an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) displaying the QUEST symbol.

The truth is SNAP/EBT is enmired in bureaucratic language and rules none of us really grasp until the need arises…from a personal need or business point of view. Then suddently it all matters hugely…as if the lives of ourselves, our friends and our families depended on it (which sometimes they do) because it’s all about food and what it costs.

Cutting through the social worky gobblygook and federal bureaucratize, here’s the key point IMPACT leaders made at our meeting: New Trump administration policies have rendered the SNAP application more difficult for those who apply shrinking the number of folks able to access federal food support. (https://www.wtfood-aid-061b0a28?mod=hp_lista_pos2) Of course the cuts mean more food insecurity in Oracle and around the state.

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“In Arizona, which incorporated the new rules immediately after the federal legislation’s passage, the number of SNAP recipients has fallen by roughly 50%, according to state data.”

Colleen Heflin, a professor at Syracuse University who studies food insecurity, said larger state drops like Arizona’s were “beyond anything we’ve ever seen.” Heflin said she was concerned it would result in vulnerable Americans not getting enough to eat.

“These large state drops in SNAP caseloads represent a fundamental restructuring of the food-assistance safety net,” she said. “We should expect to see a surge in food insecurity and its related negative consequences at new levels.”

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Getting back to real world experience in Oracle I asked the Raneris to go deeper on their experience. Here’s how Stacy put it:

“We had explored the route to offering EBT / SNAP off and on for about 8 years ....essentially when the market started becoming a “real market” we would be asked frequently if we accepted it.

The first time we tried we were told that since the cafe and market are entwined the cafe or “hot food” couldn’t be more than 50% of sales.

After that I was doing some seminars and work with “Local First” and the Copper Corridor group and Rural Arizona groups and some of them tried to intervene on our behalf because there should be exceptions for places like ours which are in a “food dessert”.

Unfortunately that didn’t work.

During Covid we tried but still nothing because we were still doing hot food to go and patio dining.

Then we made the switch to shortening our hours in the cafe and closing the cafe entirely Jan/Feb and July/Aug.

Now we are open 25 hours in the cafe and 70 hours in the market each week.

This pushes the market sales vs hot food sales over the 50% mark.

It is frustrating to work with bureaucracy that can’t look at individual communities and businesses and help them help each other.

We have to find time and effort to figure out what they need from us instead of them actually looking for solutions with us.

Having said that....each time we went through the process the people we engaged with were responsive and thorough and I think really wanted us to be successful even if they couldn’t offer solutions outside of their “framework”

When we were finally able to give them the over 50% market sales they needed to fit in their box they were very helpful. I think the people there want to help those who need it just like we do. It’s the “framework” that doesn’t lend it’s self to common sense.

Has it been popular?

Not really.... with all the comments over the years about wanting us to accept EBT I thought we would have more EBT business.

We are starting to get some and those people are very appreciative. However, we cannot offer the pricing the big companies can so we can appreciate that they want to shop elsewhere to make their money stretch.

We always knew that would be the case for the “bulk” of monthly shopping.

We were just hoping to be available when people need things during the month to supplement.

Maybe it takes time for the word to get out....maybe people aren’t sure if we take it or not and don’t want to come in and ask again...idk but we are here when they need us!”

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Non-profits around here and elsewhere tend to run for the hills when “politics” raises its dangerous head. In point of fact IMPACT leaders set the table for a real political examination of what’s going on on the food front …and who’s responsible for what’s going on. (Hey, there’s an election coming up in a few months!) They did yeoman service clarifying the kind of politics non-profits can and cannot do. Frankly, that they got as close to the political flame as they did surprised and impressed me.

Maybe the more important point is just how heavily rules and regulations (one size fits all) weigh on small businesses like our Patio Cafe and Market. Politicians of all stripes are always talking up the importance of small business for our communities, declaring their everlasting fidelity to small business as a job creator, etc but when push comes to shove the pushing and shoving amounts to nothing but lipservice … so Oracle businesses and residents have to fight tooth and nail to inject some common sense.