By: Lexie Criscola

Financial support from the government is no longer a necessity for the Alvarez Family. Only child, Asia Alvarez, 20, lives in Eugene, Oregon with her mother. The pair has been without food stamps for about two years. Alvarez holds a steady job at the Knight Library while her mother works with Imagination International in Eugene. Since their employment, the Alvarez’s have not experienced food insecurity.

 

Alvarez had lived off food stamps for as long as she could remember. When she and her mother moved from California in order for Alvarez to attend the University of Oregon, money was tight. Her mother was transitioning between jobs and their savings were sparse because of the expensive move. They needed support from food pantries and food stamps to survive.

 

When Alvarez started college, she applied for both student loans and food stamps. Luckily, she found the Student Food Pantry which is available to any college student that would benefit from receiving a couple grocery items every Thursday. “Obviously food scarcity is more of a problem than people thought if it’s specifically for college students,” Alvarez mentioned. She thinks attending a University and still being food insecure is a “weird kind of poverty” because she could afford school but not food.

 

Moving to Oregon was difficult at first but a couple months after the move, job opportunities opened up for Alvarez and her mother. Alvarez landed the job at the library winter term of her freshman year while Alvarez’s mother received a job with Hosea Thrift Store. After they were employed with new jobs, Alvarez and her mother still applied for government support. Each time they reapplied, they were rejected. “For a while, my mom kept reapplying for food stamps because she had this fear like, ‘what if we do need them?’ because she experienced food insecurity way more than I have,” Alvarez explained. The positive rejection was a surprise. They had become secure in their jobs which made them ineligible for food stamps because they were earning enough money. Being on food stamps was normal for Alvarez so when they didn’t qualify, it came as a shock. They had never been financially stable in that way.

 

Alvarez hopes that after she graduates college, she can get a stable, high paying job. “Being stable and food secure will be cool because my kids will grow up not knowing what that problem is like,” Alvarez said. Since she’s lived a majority of her life on food stamps, she never understood what it was like to be fully independent without help from the state. She hopes to be able to provide for her future family so they won’t have to struggle like her and her mom.