USDA data show that 32 percent of households receiving food stamps “still have to visit a food pantry to keep themselves fed,” says the NPR blog The Salt. “And 23 percent of households using the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program visited a pantry … as had 23 percent of households receiving free or reduced-price school lunch.”
USDA economist Alisha Coleman-Jensen told NPR, “I think you can read into [the new data] that SNAP benefits aren’t going far enough to cover all of their food expenses.” SNAP is the acronym for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the formal name for food stamps.
The new data from 2014 “lines up with other research suggesting that SNAP benefits rarely sustain families throughout an entire month,” said The Salt. A 2013 study by the USDA found that 45 percent of food-stamp recipients took steps, such as skipping meals, to make it through the month.