Ricky Belgarde knows what is feels like to skip meals. Having spent the majority of his life on SNAP, the program has helped his family to survive growing up. Today, as disability prevents Ricky from working and driving, SNAP remains critically important for Ricky.
A 20-year retiree from the North Dakota Army National Guard, Steve Olson struggles to recall a time in his childhood when his family didn’t receive SNAP benefits. As he put it, they offered a hand-up, and allowed him a path to now owning his own consulting company.
Shirley Reese remembers the difficult times she and her family faced when they struggled expecting their sixth child and how vital their SNAP benefits became. Now the manager of a grocery store in Hazelton, Reese understands the difficult situation facing many of her customers on SNAP.
A single mother of two kids, there are times when Kim Speidel and her family are eating ramen noodles by the end of the month as it’s all that remain. SNAP benefits provide an invaluable resource for them.
Now the program director at the Great Plains Food Bank, SNAP benefits allowed Nancy Carriveau and her young family to stretch what they had as far as it could go.
Now the director of Ending Hunger 2.0 for the Great Plains Food Bank, Melissa Sobolik received SNAP benefits during her time in college. Today she fights the stigma many have with receiving benefits. “We’ve made you less than a person if you need help. We need to change that. You’re not a failure if you need help; you’re setting yourself up for success,” she said.
Formerly homeless and a logger for 27 years in the Pacific Northwest, Dennis Peck suffers from a number of medical issues that makes finding work difficult to come by. SNAP benefits help to relieve that burden and for him to eat healthy.
Larry Hanson, 59, suffers from epilepsy and relies on SNAP benefits to stretch his disability payments further. “When you have nothing, SNAP benefits really do help,” he says.
Unable to pay her rent, Jodi Smith found herself homeless and with few places to turn. A 61-year-old grandmother, Smith spent time living in her vehicle and stretched her SNAP benefits as far as they would go.
Working part-time and living in a studio apartment that was once a hotel, 26-year-old Chelsey Lang does the best that she can to support her and her young son, Emryx.
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