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Eventually he opened his own garage. He has worked as a mechanic for almost 45 years. He said with the economic downturn and loss of jobs, he saw what was looming ahead. "There was nothing you could do about it," he said. "This one lady (a customer) told me she was going to come and pay me $100 on a Wednesday, and she didn't I really hadnʼ't had any food and I was hungry. I waited for her and she didnʼ t show up…I thought well, sheʼs not coming. I said, ʻI am going to have to do this…ʼThatʼs when I made the decision to go apply for food stamps. "Itʼs a learning experience when something like that happens to you, and itʼs a humbling experience," Jim said. "You have to ask for help. A lot of people donʼt understand. They say, ʻthose bums are living off of this or that.ʼ They have to feed their families, they [have] to do this. Youʼve got to just put your pride aside." McKelvey said tackling M issouriʼs food insecurity problem will take a variety of private and public approaches. "In general, we ought to be looking at public and private programs to adjust to the needs in our communities," he said. "I also think that longer term, we ought to make sure that we have strong public safety net programs for people who are struggling." Earlier this year, the Farm Bill passed with $8 billion in cuts to the food stamp program over 10 years. The measure will effect about 850,000 households across the country. For many hungry and food insecure Americans, food pantries and food stampsstillleave a gap.Mostfood pantriesare open a finite number of days throughout the month and food stamp qualification requirements eliminate many individuals from receiving assistance. "Food stamps can be pretty hard to get," said William McKelvey, project coordinator at the University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security. "Families have to qualify by income, but quite often a familyʼs assets will count against them. You sometimes find this in the case of seniors. They may have very low income, but because they own a house or other assets, they donʼt qualify for food stamps…Food stamps are not that easy to get." McKelvey discounts some perceptions that people who receive assistance are taking advantage of the system. "What my experience shows, and some of the data out there shows, is those folks who may be taking advantage of the system are clearly in the minority," he said. "By and large, most people who are seeking out assistance at a food pantry or applying for food stamps, WIC and other programs like that, genuinely needthe helpandare notchoosingto live thatlifestyle inorder to have someone else support them." Seeking assistance Jim from Sikeston, Mo. is just one case in point. After coming home from the military, he worked at a service station. AMERICA H U N G R Y I N

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