PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 As the government remains shut down, the clock was ticking for 40 million Americans and nearly 1 million Arizonans. Food assistance programs like SNAP are set to stop Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
A rally held outside the Department of Economic Security office in downtown Phoenix highlighted the need for these programs. Families said they were holding their breath, wondering what life would look like without government assistance like SNAP.<\/p>\n
SNAP is entirely federally funded through Congress, and as funding lapsed during the shutdown, those programs were on the chopping block. Just steps away from the Arizona State Capitol, dozens gathered holding signs, chanting and asking for what they called \u201clife-saving assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
People who used SNAP benefits to get by each took the microphone, saying this was not a handout but a hand up. Others criticized the program, claiming it was often abused.<\/p>\n
Wherever people stood on the issue, it couldn\u2019t be ignored that families across Arizona relied on SNAP to survive.<\/p>\n
Arizona family faces uncertainty<\/p>\n
One of those families was the Villa family. They said with the possible cuts looming, they were taking things day by day.<\/p>\n
After a long day out, the Villa family returned home. Aurelia, a single mother of three, lives with her mother, Lena.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey keep me alive,\u201d Lena said.<\/p>\n
The close-knit family shares one roof \u2014 their laughter mirrored by Aurelia\u2019s daughter\u2019s markers drawing her latest masterpiece. To outsiders, they looked like they had all the answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they expect, \u2018Nana, what\u2019s for dinner? Nana, can we have a snack?\u2019 And it\u2019s going to break my heart if I don\u2019t have nothing to give them,\u201d Lena said.<\/p>\n
The family was among thousands relying on SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI start buying stuff that we\u2019re going to be needing. And this has to last us,\u201d Lena said.<\/p>\n
With the possibility of the program disappearing, she added, \u201cBecause this sometimes will be our meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lena is on medication and is retired. She said her Social Security check only stretched so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pay my car insurance, and I pay other little small bills that I have, and that\u2019s probably the end of my check,\u201d she said, explaining she has to find inexpensive ways for the kids to still be kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet them a coloring book and tell them color for an activity,\u201d Lena said.<\/p>\n
Aurelia said she tried to take the steps to get her family out of this situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had my high school diploma, went to college to get my medical coding and billing. And even then, going into work in clinics, it still was not enough,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is my job to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
A family looking for answers \u2014 trying to make it by.<\/p>\n
State responds with emergency funding<\/p>\n
In response, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced emergency funding<\/a> to help people who relied on SNAP, allocating $1.8 million in leftover COVID-19 relief funds for food assistance.<\/p>\n Of that amount, $1.5 million was designated for state food banks and $300,000 for \u201cFood Bucks Now,\u201d a program offering eligible households $30 vouchers to purchase food.<\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n