I remember roaming the aisles of the Big Star grocery store with my mom when I was little. We mostly ate simple, quick meals with canned vegetables and biscuits, chicken legs, Hamburger Helper, Rice-A-Roni, things like that. Potted meat with crackers was a favorite snack of mine, preferable over Vienna sausages. Sometimes I could pick a box of Little Debbies, but usually those were only a special treat at grandmother’s house. I remember, too, my mom pulling food stamps, as they were called, from a coupon booklet, and handing them to the cashier at check-out. It looked like money to me, similar to a dollar in size, but I knew there was something different about it.
I also recall visits to the WIC center in our small Mississippi town, and returning with King Vitamin cereal and other goodies (all I cared about was the cereal, so I don’t remember the specifics). As a young, single, working mother attending college, my mom genuinely needed assistance. I got the feeling that she was not proud of this. It seemed like something we shouldn’t share or show; the stamps a sign of some no-good, lazy somebody who just doesn’t want to work, according to other folks. That was the impression I got. It didn’t feel great. But I understood that we didn’t have much money, that clothes would be hand-me-downs, and extras were few and far between. Yet my mama always prepared meals for us; peas with pork chops and homemade cornbread, spaghetti soup (noodles, tomato sauce, and butter), breakfast potatoes, or some meat and two. I don’t know what we’d have done without the food stamps or WIC. I don’t recall how long we used what is now referred to as SNAP. But I know, at a time when a working adult with two children needed help the most, those resources meant we didn’t go hungry. I wasn’t able to get the fresh, new pair of Nikes I wanted, but I never wondered if I’d go unfed.
In September, 152,265 people relied on SNAP benefits in Shelby County. That is 152,265 people who have to find ways to feed themselves and their families while funds hang in the balance. And that’s after “the average price of food in the United States rose by 3.1 percent in the 12 months ending September, according to the latest inflation data published October 24, 2025, by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.” That is not taking into account the rising costs of other necessities, including power bills, clothing, and toiletries. (The Walgreens brand toilet paper increased 100 percent — from $1.99 to $3.99 — for a four-pack in recent weeks. Absurdity!) All while the United States minimum wage has not changed since 2009, and jobs are increasingly harder to find.
This is not about giving money to people who don’t want to work. It’s about making sure people — including children — are fed. If you are someone debating whether or not the less privileged deserve to eat, you may want to take a long hard look inside. This should be a moral issue, not political.
I’m sorry, mama, if you read this and get mad at me for sharing your personal business. I’ve always been an oversharer. But the truth is that sometimes people need help. At one time, those people were us. That kid was me. There is no reason food should be held hostage in these United States of America.
Shara Clark
shara@memphisflyer.com