in Alabama, summer and inflation have worsened food insecurity

The front door opens and three schoolchildren rush into the kitchen. Their energy wakes up Jazzy*’s house, plunged into darkness to fend off the overwhelming heat of this September afternoon. “Mom, can I eat an apple?”says a boy. Another rummages through boxes lined up on the counter, takes out a plum: “Mom, do I need 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 snacks is not part of the usual shopping for this 39-year-old American, based 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’m on Snap food vouchers [un programme fédéral]but it’s rarely enough to last the whole monthexplains the mother. With my small income, I have to count everything.” A situation 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 in smaller quantities, according to the NGO Feeding America.

Summer is critical for precarious families. “During the school year, students are entitled to free breakfast and lunch at school, says Michael Coleman, director of the Heart of Alabama Food Bank. If they have educational activities after class, they are even served dinner. But from June to August, their parents have to manage to provide all the meals.”

To help the poorest households, the government of Democratic President Joe Biden launched a federal program in 2024 granting $40 in additional food stamps per child per month during the summer. A “giant step” to fight hunger in the United States, boasts the Department of Agriculture. Thirteen states, all led by Republicans, however, refused to participate. Among them, Alabama, which will not join this program until 2025. The governor, Kay Ivey, cited deadlines that were too short to plan the budget necessary to implement the measure this year, reports CBS. A justification that leaves Michael Coleman doubtful.

“Here you are in a red state [la couleur du Parti républicain]. Traditionally, any public spending is frowned upon by conservative voters.”

Michael Coleman, food bank director

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Other Republican elected officials accept the political motivations for their refusal. The governor of Nebraska said “not believe in the welfare state”according to the Washington Postwhen that of Oklahoma criticized the government for “push social measures” – yet approved in the Federal Congress by a bipartisan vote – reports Newsweek. “Most of these elected officials never had to wonder if they would have to eat for dinner, or to go to a food distribution, comments Michael Coleman. They’re not insensitive to food insecurity, but they don’t know what it is.”

All year round, its food bank buys or collects donated produce from supermarkets for redistribution throughout central Alabama. “We organize around twenty distributions per month, explains the director. For three or four years, with inflation, demand has continued to increase. Especially in the summer.”

This Tuesday in September, a hundred cars purr on the yellowed lawn which surrounds 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. Around thirty employees of the Publix supermarket chain, partner of this distribution, are busy in the shadow of barnums. They are preparing the food which 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 flocked with the name of the brand.

The cars advance at a walking pace on a dirt road, while the volunteers fill the trunks with food, their foreheads glistening with sweat. The ballet of bags and boxes only stops long enough to greet children passing by on a school bus, or to send a word of encouragement to the beneficiaries.

Some tell us they have “struggled during the summer”. Nicole, a stay-at-home mother of five, comes to Snow Hill Christian Church “as soon as there is a distribution”. “My husband’s salary is not enough to make ends meet,” explains the forty-year-old, in the cool of her air-conditioned car. “Now that my children have returned to school, it’s a little easier. I would like to give them more, but I can’t afford it.”

Muriel, a 72-year-old grandmother with a disability, must provide for the needs of her son and her 10-year-old grandson. “My allowance is five dollars higher than the limit to benefit from Snap vouchers”she laments.

“I have to choose between buying medicine or food. During the summer, my grandson never misses a meal, but sometimes I only have cereal to give him.”

Muriel, resident of Alabama

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Wanda has custody of two grandchildren. “I have a disability, and my husband only has a part-time job, says the sixty-year-old. We make do with what we have, and we don’t waste anything. The children would like to go to McDonald’s, but we can’t afford it.”

A few vehicles away, Linnie and Linda are sheltering from the sun in their big red pickup. The two cousins ​​came to pick up packages for “members of their community who cannot travel”. In this rural area, the nearest supermarket is a 15-minute drive away. “Large families are struggling to get by because gas and food are becoming more and more expensive,” Linda worries. A box of 18 eggs is “from 4 to 9 dollars”THE “bread has stayed the same price, but it has shrunk.” To help precarious families get through the summer, the social worker “shows them how to prepare cheaper but nutritious meals, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

Jazzy is one of the parents that Linda supports. “I am married, but the father of my children is not part of the picture: I prefer to say that I am a single mother”, she says in a soft voice, in the living room of her small brick house. Her youngest son, aged 3, sleeps in the next room. Shortly after his birth, an infection forced doctors to remove part of his digestive system. “He is connected to a machine 15 hours a day, confides the thirty-year-old. I’m like his nurse, so I have to be here full time.”

The $2,000 that Jazzy receives each month for this caregiver status does not allow her to provide for the needs of the entire family. “The priority is paying the bills. I can’t even go to the food bank myself, because I have to save gas.” With the start of the school year and two fewer meals to serve each day, the mother manages to prepare “balanced dinners” to his children. She juggles food aid vouchers, supermarket products and these precious distributions. “I prepare pasta with vegetables”she illustrates. On weekends, however, “sometimes you have to settle for a large pizza or make sandwiches.”

Summer, “when the kids were home all day and snacking all the time”was a real challenge. “We always had to have snacks to give them. I tried to spread out the most substantial meals throughout the month, alternating with cheaper options that were easy to buy in large quantities: hot dogs, noodles…”Jazzy list. She has sometimes given up buying foodstuffs that have become too expensive, such as meat.

“Some days my children say there is nothing to eat, because they don’t like what I prepared. But I make sure they have three meals a day, no matter what. He’s coming.”

Jazzy, single mother

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For a few minutes, Jazzy observes his children in silence. Then, she asks us a series of questions, eager to know more about the food assistance program that Alabama must integrate next year. “Do you know how the vouchers will be paid? How much would we receive? For how many months?” Forty dollars per child, “it will already be a huge help for a single mother like me, without family supportshe enthuses. We could eat real meals all year round.”

Jazzy does not understand the reluctance of certain States to join this program. “When you no longer have food stamps, bills add 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 collect packages for her neighbors at the next distribution, does not hide her annoyance. “While people are suffering, some are opposing this program on electoral grounds.” And if the economy is voters’ top concern heading into the November 5 presidential election, according to the Pew Research Center, Linda “does not believe that inflation is the government’s priority.” “Whatever party [qui gagnera]I don’t expect any change.”

* The first name has been changed.