Send a postcard message: Mainers shouldn’t go hungry

Senator Susan Collins

Who gets to eat?
Who gets to decide who gets to eat and who goes hungry?

Nobody should have to ask these questions.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a dangerous and immoral Farm Bill which contains deep and harmful cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). This week the Senate will consider its own bill, and we want to send a clear message: We oppose any bill that would increase hunger and hardship by taking food away from Mainers, including children, veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities.

As people of faith and conscience, we are deeply concerned about cuts to food assistance programs that are a critically important component of Maine’s social safety net. Putting up barriers that make it more difficult for struggling neighbors to access assistance and denying food to those who are hungry is morally wrong and dangerous.

Please sign our electronic postcard urging Senator Collins to oppose any cuts to SNAP or harmful changes that would take food away from struggling families who need help.

Petition by
Jackie McNeil
Portland, Maine

To: Senator Susan Collins
From: [Your Name]

Dear Senator Collins:


As people of faith and conscience, we are deeply concerned about proposed cuts and changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) that would increase hunger and hardship by taking food away from Mainers, including children, veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities.


SNAP is one of our nation’s most important and successful anti-poverty programs, helping 40 million Americans, including 1 in 7 of our friends and neighbors here in Maine, purchase the food they need to feed their families, stay healthy, and thrive.


Here in Maine, 62 percent of SNAP participants live in households with children. Our state ranks seventh highest in the nation for food insecurity, with more than 1 in 5 Maine children sometimes living with hunger, sometimes wondering whether there will be enough food on the table.


SNAP is a critically important component of Maine’s social safety net. We oppose the changes that have been proposed that would make it more difficult for struggling neighbors to access assistance — more onerous and punitive work requirements, burdensome paperwork processes, and ineligibility measures for those trying to reintegrate after serving time in prison, for example. Putting up barriers that make it more difficult for struggling neighbors to access assistance and denying food to those who are hungry is morally wrong and dangerous.


Having adequate food to eat is the most basic of human needs. No one, including you and your Congressional colleagues, should have the power to determine who gets to eat.


We urge you to oppose any cuts to SNAP.