Just a few months ago, my family stopped qualifying for government cheese.<\/p>\n
It came as a little bit of a surprise to me\u2014I had, after all, been a part of the WIC (women, infants, and children) program for almost seven years, starting with my first child. My daughter was born two months early due to life-threatening complications and I was never able to breastfeed. WIC supplied the formula, an expense that would have been a huge blow to our family\u2019s finances. As my husband and I took turns getting our graduate degrees, WIC provided us with milk, cheese, eggs, and a few other essentials, and when we were support-raising missionaries living in immigrant and refugee neighborhoods for three years, we used our WIC vouchers along with all of our neighbors.<\/p>\n
Two years ago when my second child was born, I wasn\u2019t able to work, and while moving across the country, our only car broke down. By the time we finally found an apartment to live in and a job for my husband, we didn\u2019t even have enough money to buy curtains for our windows. We applied for food stamps, or SNAP, along with WIC, and I don\u2019t know what we would have done without it for those few months. I felt sweet relief being able to go to the grocery store, swipe my card, and purchase food for my family. Each time, I was incredibly grateful for my country.<\/p>\n
In light of where my family is now, it\u2019s important for me to take a moment and remember those feelings\u2014both the stress of not having money to buy essentials and the gratitude for any small breaks. <\/p>\n