This southern state, where one in four children is food insecure, has refused to participate in a federal aid program for the summer of 2024. As the presidential election approaches, franceinfo met families struggling to feed themselves.
The front door opens and three schoolchildren rush into the kitchen. Their energy wakes up Jazzy's* house, plunged into darkness to repel the crushing heat of this September afternoon. "Mom, can I eat an apple?" asks a boy. Another rummages through boxes lined up on the counter, pulls out a plum: "Mom, do I have to wash it?" "You see, no matter what we have to eat, they pounce on it!" asks this mother of six children. Fresh fruit for a snack is not part of the usual shopping for this 39-year-old American woman, who lives in Hayneville, Alabama (United States). A neighbor brought them back from a food distribution.
Jazzy is one of the 15% of Alabama residents who have difficulty feeding themselves. "I receive Snap food stamps [a federal program], but it is rarely enough to last the whole month," explains the mother. "With my small income, I have to count everything." This situation is far from unique: in this southern state, which has just over 5 million residents, one in four children is food insecure and must skip meals or eat smaller quantities, according to the NGO Feeding America.
Republicans Who "Don't Believe in the Welfare State"
Summer is critical for families in need. "During the school year, students get free breakfast and lunch at school," says Michael Coleman, director of the Heart of Alabama Food Bank. "If they have educational activities after school, they even get dinner. But from June to August, their parents have to scramble to provide all the meals."
To help the poorest households, the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden launched a federal program in 2024 that will provide an additional $40 in food stamps per child per month during the summer. A "giant step" to combat hunger in the United States, boasts the Department of Agriculture. However, 13 states, all led by Republicans, have refused to participate. Among them, Alabama, which will not join the program until 2025. Governor Kay Ivey has cited tight deadlines to budget for implementing the measure this year.
Other Republican lawmakers are taking political responsibility for their refusals. Nebraska's governor said he "doesn't believe in the welfare state," according to the Washington Post(New window), while Oklahoma's governor criticized the government for "pushing social welfare measures" that had been passed by a bipartisan Congress, according to Newsweek(New window). "Most of these officials have never had to worry about whether they're going to have food for dinner or have to go to a food distribution," Coleman said. "They're not immune to food insecurity, but they don't know what it is."
Throughout the year, his food bank buys or collects donated food from supermarkets and redistributes it across central Alabama. "We organize about twenty distributions per month," explains the director. "For three or four years, with inflation, demand has continued to increase. Especially in the summer."
"We make do with what we have"
This Tuesday in September, a hundred cars are purring on the yellowed lawn surrounding a small country church, about twenty kilometers from Hayneville. Not a cloud or a breath of air to make the ambient 33°C more bearable. About thirty employees of the Publix supermarket chain, a partner in this distribution, are busy in the shade of marquees. They are preparing the food that will be offered in a few minutes: bags of squash and onions, cereal bars, bottles of juice, watermelons, bananas... "We have enough to feed 300 families," rejoices a volunteer in a fluorescent green T-shirt with the name of the brand.
Cars move slowly along a dirt road, while volunteers fill trunks with food, their foreheads glistening with sweat. The ballet of bags and boxes stops only long enough to greet children passing by on a school bus, or to address a word of encouragement to the beneficiaries.
Some tell us they "struggled during the summer." Nicole, a stay-at-home mother of five, comes to Snow Hill Christian Church "whenever there's a distribution." "My husband's salary doesn't make enough to make ends meet," the 40-year-old explains, in the cool of her air-conditioned car. "Now that my kids are back in school, it's a little easier. I'd like to give them more, but I can't afford it." Muriel, a 72-year-old grandmother with a disability, has to support her son and 10-year-old grandson. "My allowance is $5 over the Snap voucher limit," she laments.
"Paying the bills is the priority"
Jazzy is one of the parents Linda supports. "I'm married, but the father of my children is not in the picture; I prefer to say I'm a single mother," she says softly in the living room of her small brick home. Her youngest son, 3, sleeps in the next room. Shortly after he was born, an infection forced doctors to remove part of his digestive system. "He's hooked up to a machine 15 hours a day," the 30-year-old says. "I'm like his nurse, so I have to be here full time."
The $2,000 Jazzy receives each month as a caregiver doesn't allow her to support the entire family. "Paying the bills is the priority. I can't even go to the food bank myself because I have to save on gas." With school back in session and two fewer meals to serve each day, the mother manages to prepare "balanced dinners" for her children. She juggles between food aid vouchers, supermarket products and these precious distributions. "I make pasta with vegetables," she illustrates. On weekends, however, "you sometimes have to make do with a large pizza or make sandwiches."
For a few minutes, Jazzy watches her children in silence. Then she asks us a series of questions, eager to learn more about the food assistance program that Alabama is set to join next year. "Do you know how the vouchers will be paid? How much would we get? For how many months?" Forty dollars per child, "that would be a huge help for a single mother like me, without family support," she enthuses. "We could eat real meals all year long." Jazzy does not understand the reluctance of some states to join this program. "When you no longer have food stamps, the bills are adding up and you don't know how to pay for groceries, with children to feed, it's extremely difficult..." she confides. Linda, who will return to pick up packages for her neighbors at the next distribution, does not hide her annoyance. "While people are suffering, some are opposing this program for electoral reasons." And while the economy is the top concern for voters heading into the Nov. 5 presidential election, according to the Pew Research Center(New window), Linda "doesn't believe inflation is the government's top priority." "Regardless of which party [wins], I don't expect it to change."