Roughly 10% of working Oklahomans rely on SNAP benefits (including 29% of personal care aides, 22% of nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides, 26% of cashiers, and 24% of cooks) in order to make ends meet and feed their families. These people, who care for our elderly, teach our children, and allow businesses across the state to function, are at risk of going hungry (along with hundreds of thousands of children and disabled people) due to the disruption in SNAP benefits related to the recently concluded federal shutdown.

To put it another way: employers have been passing the cost of their employees' basic needs onto the Oklahoma taxpayer despite record corporate profits, because corporations don't believe that the people who allow their businesses to continue existing, the workers who allow our society to function, deserve enough income to afford daily necessities. This is utterly unacceptable. No one should go hungry in the richest country on Earth, but especially not essential employees working to provide for their loved ones.

We aim to fix this problem, not only by collecting food goods to support food banks struggling to replenish their supply in the wake of the SNAP crisis, but also by attacking the problem at its source: by raising the minimum wage to a level where workers can actually support themselves. State Question 832 will not only raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2030, but also index the minimum wage to inflation so that workers don't fall behind again. Because a living wage is the minimum.

Join us in Alice Harn Park on Sunday, November 23rd, where we will be canvassing the surrounding neighborhoods in support of SQ 832, as well as collecting donations of non-perishable food items and connecting community members with organizations who seek to make Oklahoma a better place for working families. We'll do a brief canvassing training and talk about how SQ 832 will affect Oklahoma at 2:30 before beginning to knock doors. Come join us, and help build an economy that works for workers!