The teachers union American Federation of Teachers sent out an email late last month from a school custodian who blamed Republicans for the federal shutdown that will jeopardize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
His email stated, “School employees like me know what it’s like to worry about hungry students. We see students saving part of their lunch to bring home to a sibling or a parent. We know students often struggle more in class on Fridays because their focus is on what their family is going to eat over the weekend.”
There is no reason why a child in this country should go hungry. If they are, it’s not a problem more government spending can fix.
Whatever obstacles the impoverished face—and there is a long list, including ridiculously high interest rates on credit cards, car payments, rent, car insurance, utility bills, and child care—finding cheap food in this country is not one of them.
The Detroit Free Press ran a story from Chalkbeat this summer parroting the mantra of all the rent-seekers advocating for higher taxes: Pay up so kids “don’t go hungry.” Kids need free meals at their schools, and if they don’t, as the Detroit Free Press reported, “it could result in some students going hungry.”
“Millions of Michiganders will be harmed if the House Republican budget goes into effect,” Michigan House Democrats said last month. “Kids & families = hungry.”
It’s not to say low-income people don’t struggle to make ends meet. But we have a system in place that keeps kids from going truly hungry in this country. If they are hungry, it’s because their parents are using the money for something else.
As of June 2025, there were 1.5 million people in Michigan receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits—or what used to be called food stamps. That came at a cost of $258.5 million just in May and just in Michigan.
Now how much a family or person gets on their Bridge EBT card is determined by factors such as household income and their bills.
For a household of three individuals in Michigan, the maximum monthly food stamp benefit is $768. An unemployed adult with no source of income receives $290 a month. That easily covers the basic needs of any family if the money is spent with some restraint.
A bowl of cereal (2 cups milk and 2 cups cereal) is 580 calories. It costs a total of 86 cents.
Generic Great Value macaroni elbows are 25 cents a cup and 400 calories. With two cups, that’s 800 calories. Just add salt.
A single 3-ounce hamburger patty with a hamburger bun comes to $1.45 and has 350 calories. If you eat two a day, that’s $2.90 and 700 calories.
If you eat a bowl of cereal, a bowl of macaroni, and two hamburgers (as laid out), that’s $4.25 a day at 2,080 calories. That’s $127.50 a month, which leaves plenty left over to buy more food to feed hungry kids.
And if you are a frugal shopper, you will spot other deals. There are other cheap-as-dirt options such as rice, soup, generic peanut butter, and bread.
There’s also my favorite—Stove Top Stuffing (47 cents a serving, 110 calories, ready in 5 minutes, and you don’t even need to add the butter, truth be told.)
If you are more nutrition-minded than me, there are plenty more nutritious options, such as a 10-pound bag of potatoes for $5.40. A 12-ounce bag of frozen generic mixed vegetables is 98 cents.
For snacks, Walmart sells miniature apple pies for 86 cents that are 250 calories and delicious. If you want to splurge on those, have at it. And yes, if you don’t want your kids to be hungry, shop at Walmart to stretch your food budget.
No one is going hungry. That should be the top goal.
The truth is there are very few people that have the discipline to eat on that budget. That, and rampant fraud, are the reasons why children are going hungry.
Let’s start with poor purchasing choices. There are a growing number of fast food restaurants that now take EBT (food stamp) cards. That’s a budget killer. You will burn through your food stamp balance in a McDonald’s drive-thru.
To make it even worse, gas stations and DoorDash are also accepting EBT cards, which means people are buying $4 bottles of Diet Coke on a Bridge card, or having $40 Wendy’s meals delivered to their door.
There are certain things you can’t buy if you want to feed your kids. We all face those choices. When the cost of chicken tripled, I stopped buying it. You can always drink tap water instead of pop or energy drinks.
And then there is the fraud. Committing fraud on a Bridge card in Michigan is simple and comes at almost no risk. Nobody ever checks to see if the person using the card is the authorized agent.
About 15 years ago, I was in a Jackson Walmart and got my first introduction to how the real scams work. A woman approached while I was in a checkout line.
She offered me her Bridge card to pay for my groceries. I had a full cart. For a moment, I was touched—a complete stranger, 20 years younger offering to pay for my groceries. I thanked her but said I was good. But I was later told how naive I was.
I had a cart full of groceries that cost $150. If I used that woman’s Bridge card to pay for the full $150, I then am expected to give her back $75. She gets $75 in cash she can spend on anything she wants, and I get 50% off my grocery bill.
It’s a win-win, except it’s illegal. It robs children of meal money and is also virtually impossible to prevent because both parties are willing conspirators.
Now, all the person has to do with self-checkout lanes is give the person their Bridge card and PIN number, and it can all be done without anyone ever noticing—at least until their kid shows up at school hungry because their parent spent the money earmarked for food on something else.
There’s no reason for a child to be hungry in this country.
Tom Gantert is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
