With pandemic SNAP benefits expired, central Pa. food banks see sharp rise in people seeking help

Noemis De Jesus has to be careful about every spending decision she makes. Treating herself in a restaurant or buying that pair of flip-flops she needs might mean she won’t have enough money for groceries or gas to get her through the month.

“I don’t have the luxury of going to a birthday party with a gift. I can’t buy it, so I don’t go. I don’t participate. I can’t eat a bite of hot dog, because I can’t buy that hot dog, even if it’s cheap, ” De Jesus said in Spanish. “I have to control myself. I have to be strong when it comes to buying things.”

 

Continue reading on 90.5 WESA