Food Stamps for Fast Food?
Food stamps, or SNAP Benefits as it is called here in Louisville, Kentucky, is a great government assistance program to those who actually need food provided by an EBT card. Children and babies won’t go to bed on an empty stomach, the homeless don’t have to scour trash cans or dumpsters for food, nor would they find the need to panhandle for a few spare change to purchase something cheap from the gas station. The elderly who do not work and may not be able to provide for themselves can now find a hot meal on their table. But wouldn’t it be nice to eat outside of the house every now and then? Kentucky is lobbying to add its name to the small list of states where people who require food stamps to be able to purchase meals from fast food restaurants.
Yum! Brands, a Louisville based company holds three giant brand name restaurants- Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and of course KFC. The proposal from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services would only be for the homeless, disabled, and the elderly. It sounds extremely tempting to say “Let’s not stay home tonight, let’s eat out, I have my food stamps.” Sometimes people just can’t or don’t want to stand over the stove, bending down to open the oven door or carefully measure ingredients in a measuring cup. And most don’t feeling like microwaving their food. I understand the need to get out of the kitchen or even the soup kitchen every now and then, but is it really worth risking your health by eating fried, greasy fast food?
This is a win-lose situation because most homeless people do not have access to a refrigerator or a stove, many disabled people are unable to cook for themselves, and a lot of the elderly take care of their grandchildren and cannot find the time to cook a healthy meal. The usage of food stamps in fast food restaurants will take away the stress of cooking and replace it with the number 5 on Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, or KFC’s menu. In 2010, Kentucky was ranked as the country’s 7th fattest state, with 30.4 percent of obese adults. The passing of this proposal would help the state reach its way to number 1. Children are already becoming obese at an alarming rate, and Kentucky could eventually see an even higher rate of kids with Type 2 Diabetes.
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