Last Thursday night, Richelle Williams dropped her three kids off to play at the OrthoIndy Foundation YMCA.
Then, she joined a water aerobics class.
“This is my zen,” the 41-year-old southsider said, “from all the woes of life.”
Right now, her biggest woe is the loss of her family’s food stamps. During the federal government shutdown, Williams found herself in the aisles of Sam’s Club and Walmart, hunting for deals that will fill three bellies — and then her own.
But all of that fades away in the pool. With Diana Ross and Whitney Houston blasting from a purple speaker on the edge, Williams picked up a noodle and raised it above her head, moving in sync with the women around her.
“Bring it on!” the instructor yelled.
They treaded, jumped and cycled their legs through the water. Eventually, Williams took a break in the corner, resting with her friend from class, Erica Jackson.
Both women are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. But in early November, as a divided Congress stalled on passing a funding bill, the payments they needed to feed their families paused. On Nov. 6, Day 36 of the shutdown, the friends traded tips and recipes to make it through.
“I thought I would be bored eating the same thing,” Jackson said. She recommended buying frozen chicken and potatoes in bulk.
“They’re stretcher meals,” Williams replied. “I’ve seen it on YouTube! You can feed five children with one chicken breast.”
A sermon on SNAP
When Williams drove home, spaghetti was on the menu for dinner.
Her oldest son, Lee, jumped on the couch to do homework. The 17-year-old’s honor roll certificate from Pike High School was taped to the fridge, next to a copy of the Lord’s Prayer. Williams, a minister, gave a sermon on SNAP a week ago.
“Know life may have dealt you some cards you are not happy with,” she told congregants at Evangelistic Empowerment Center. “We have all suffered and endured in some kind of way, but let’s give honor to God we’re still here.”
That night, Williams turned on the stove to sauté onions and green peppers. Her 9-year-old twins, Harmony and Harun, giggled as they watched “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” in the living room. Every few minutes, Harmony got up to do cartwheels across the rug.
“We have a trampoline in the back because we had to make some compromises,” Williams said, as she stirred. “Gymnastics is so expensive, but she’s so good at it.”
The lessons are paused to save money for groceries. So are the family’s nights at the roller-skating rink. And that morning, before logging onto her job as a health insurance navigator, Williams applied to get more time to pay off the loan for her 2017 blue GMC Acadia.
After dropping the children off at school, she was free to cry.
“It should not be so hard to live,” Williams said. She has a running list of bills in her head, and everything is becoming more expensive: utilities, gas, school, food, health care.
“My children don’t know,” she continued. “I don’t want them to feel what I feel. I’m trying to make our home merry even though there’s so much hell going on.”
That looked like the prayer the family said around the table before eating dinner. And the conversations about school.
“What’s something you learned today?” Williams asked.
“We had a history quiz about Thomas Jefferson,” Harun said. “He was the third president.”
“Did he make any changes?” Williams asked. “Did he help America?”
The children weren’t sure. Williams promised they’d crack open a textbook together and find out.
A spaghetti dinner for four: $35.26
The meal was this:
The $35.26 Thursday dinner would have to feed her family of four through the weekend. “The last little corner of it will be Sunday lunch,” Williams said.
On that night, the family didn’t know if they would get SNAP this month, or how much. They were waiting to hear from Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration, the state agency that distributes the benefits. The federal dollars, loaded onto a debit card, can be spent at grocery stores. How much you get depends on income and household size.
For Williams and her kids, the benefits they receive usually last about two and a half weeks. During the rest of the month, she searches for food pantries and tries to get more time to pay other bills.
“SNAP is not enough,” Williams said, “but it still helps.”
That’s why she is going back to school for nursing in January. She hopes to earn more so the family will no longer need the assistance program to keep food on the table.
“I wish those who are making decisions could take a walk in our shoes,” Williams said. “People are really out here trying, boots on the ground, to make it in America.”
Partial payments bring some relief
Funding for SNAP and other federal programs is still caught up in political fights and court cases. But in the short term, the government has released some money to people.
On Nov. 11, Williams received a partial SNAP payment.
“Hallelujah,” she wrote in a text to Mirror Indy, adding a slew of happy emojis.
The money wasn’t enough to cover the usual meals for her three kids or their wishlist for Thanksgiving. But it was something tangible after days of uncertainty. She’d given up on watching the news after so many alerts and changes.
“All the back-and-forth added so much anxiety,” Williams said. “I’m over it. Too many families are suffering.”
She would make the $311 in her account stretch.
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Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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