Being a card-carrying member of SNAP — the country’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — comes with a certain social stigma, said Dimity Lowell, and that negative image is hardest on kids.
“When standing in line at the grocery store you don’t want someone in line behind you that has kids the same age as yours,” advised Dimity. “Because once they see you use that card, they will tell their children. And maybe they’ll say that you’re probably not that good of a person,” and all of a sudden your child’s social status has been knocked down a notch or two.
Although Dimity no longer depends on food stamps, the memory of relying on them back in 2009 remains like a festering wound.
“The hardest part was how it affected our children,” she said, most notably because it affects how they typically interact with their peers.
Food stamps can be used only for the purchase of food that is to be eaten at home. Snack foods such as chips, crackers and cookies are not covered, nor are soft drinks.
Dimity said she has a sister on food stamps. “I feel for her,” she said, and ticked off the typical ways it affects children, especially in their teenage years:
— An outing with friends to the bowling alley cannot include a basket of nachos.
— No popcorn or a Coke when seeing a movie.
— A ball game cannot be capped off with a trip to Dairy Queen.
— The swimming pool’s concession stand is off limits.
— A craving cannot be satisfied at a fast-food restaurant.
“As a dad, I’ve always tried to do what I could to take care of my family,” John Lowell said. “But kids don’t understand the challenge of making ends meet.”
Dimity chimed in. “Instead, they’re saying ‘Why aren’t you taking care of me? Why are you punishing me?’”
To which John replies, “But they’re not supposed to understand these things. And they don’t want to know. They just say, ‘fix it.’”
“We used to have to tell the children ‘no’ all the time,” she said.
During the years when children were seemingly splitting the seams of their small abode the Lowells learned how to save up for important things.
