Justin Ruben of ParentsTogether speaks on Thursday at a press conference organized to deliver 1.5 million petitions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The petitions are protesting proposed changes to the food stamps program that would also affect the free school lunch program. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Parents Together)
When Elle Simone Scott was a young girl, her family relied on food stamps and her school's free lunch program to get by.
"At several points in my life, receiving free lunch when I needed it the most, it was so beneficial for me," she says. "You know, it was sometimes the most complete meal that I and some of my friends would have in a day."
Now Scott, a chef and TV host of America's Test Kitchen, is part of a coalition fighting to save the program from a proposed rule change by the Trump administration.
Scott was among a few dozen people – including anti-hunger groups, parents, students and local activists – who staged a "lunch in" outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday. They were there to deliver petitions with 1.5 million signatures urging the agency not to adopt the proposed rule change.
The change, first announced over the summer, would eliminate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or SNAP, as the food stamps program is now known, for more than 3 million people by eliminating something called broad-based categorical eligibility, a policy that gives states the flexibility to waive some asset and income limits for households that receive both SNAP and other welfare benefits.
