Alabama woman partners with food trucks on her birthday to feed hundreds affected by government shutdown
A Birmingham business owner celebrated her birthday by helping those affected by the government shutdown Tuesday.
Charnita Horton partnered with a dozen food trucks to give out free food. The line was wrapped around the block, with more than 300 people.
“I remember being in college and I had [SNAP benefits] for 10 days,” she said, “but I remember being young and my mom — we used to have WIC. We had to survive.”
With the end of the government shutdown nowhere in sight, more than 700,000 Alabamians like Keyosha Brackens are left wondering where their next meal is coming from. She’s figured out how to get creative and make her benefits stretch, but the help could still be useful.
“I kind of manage mine in a certain kind of way,” she said. “I shop at some stores for certain things and stuff like that. It kind of takes us through the month and stuff like that, so I’m pretty good with it.”
Jasmine Cleveland said she works multiple side jobs to make sure she provides for her family, but she knows some families aren’t that lucky. She’s supposed to get her SNAP benefits on the ninth of every month, but that deposit still isn’t guaranteed.
“I’m just hoping for the best,” Cleveland said. “I hope we do, because it’ll make Thanksgiving a whole lot better. I can get a whole lot more. If they do, they do. If they don’t, they don’t. I’ll be fine, I guess.”
Cecilia Lyons said she hopes she and other families will see all their SNAP benefits deposited in their accounts before Thanksgiving rolls around, or it’ll be black-eyed peas and cornbread.
“I grew up in the hard times,” Lyons said. “I’m 73. I grew up in the hard times. I can survive. I remember when they used to give us cheese and butter, a little bit of that, but we made it. We’ll make it. God ain’t gon’ let nothing happen that ain’t supposed to.”
Horton also gave out $25 gift cards at the event to help out. With the shutdown still going, many people hope it comes to an end soon before resources like that dry up.
