One person on our team lives and breathes this support every day: Siggy, our Member Support Coordinator. Our approximately 300 Members face the unfair stigmas from financial poverty or mental illness, meaning that Siggy spends a lot of time working through things that have already fallen apart for folks. When you are managing mental illness and social disparities, dealing with what’s right in front of you can be overwhelming enough. So Siggy’s used to helping with lots of disability and SNAP paperwork, renewal requirements, and completion and submission processes.
But the new political changes to SNAP benefits, sometimes referred to as food stamps, have dramatically restricted who qualifies for support and increased the penalties for late paperwork. You’ve probably heard about these changes: individuals must now work or volunteer 20 hours a week or demonstrate an exemption.
And the clerical regulation? You can only be out of sync with your paperwork for up to 3 months in a 3-year period—a wildly small window that went into effect as soon as the new law was passed.
Even before these new rules came into effect, Siggy says the systems that we all pay into to support our collective community were indecent. Even though they exist as a resource for others, they strip food assistance from people who still qualify—leaving them without groceries, skipping meals, and facing hunger—not because their need has changed, but because paperwork was missed or misunderstood.
“They’re still eligible, they just happen to not have done the paperwork so they’re able to stop their benefits. It’s so cold-blooded.”
Now, she knows it’s only going to get a lot worse.
That’s why she’s on a campaign to reach as many of our Members as possible before the three-month grace period is up. She’s canvassing our community spaces, running flyers through our monthly newsletter, and reaching out to our Members online. She’s working to meet with everyone individually so they can review documents, get exemptions established, or figure out next steps together. She’s facing down a tight timeline and an immense, impersonal, and unjust system, but it doesn’t faze her.
“If anything, it just propels me forward to do more. I just work harder.”
Siggy’s fire to keep going—not in service of herself, but for others—is the heart of Maybelle Center. We all deserve the resources and support to not only survive, but to thrive. And when we come together to see and invest in one another, we move closer to that reality.
When policies threaten to push our neighbors further to the margins, Maybelle Center doesn’t just walk alongside them—we run. And because of your support, our Members don’t face these devastating changes alone.
