The view from one location in Central California.

Plus, how communities are stepping up to feed their neighbors.

“Many of our food banks are currently distributing the food that they typically stockpile for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season,” said Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance CEO Sylvia Blain.

Earlier this month, the USDA notified states they need to make big changes to SNAP eligibility, work requirements, and who’s covering all the costs.

SNAP, otherwise known as food stamps, only provides around $6 a day per person on average — and lawmakers recently moved to spend even less on the program.

In more than a dozen states, less than 80% of SNAP applications are being processed on time. Before the pandemic, the numbers were much better.

The upper age limit for SNAP recipients (able bodied, without dependents) who have to prove they’re working or looking for work at least part time has just risen from age 49 to age 50. Eventually it’ll go up to age 54.

New work requirements on welfare were part of the debt ceiling deal. How might they affect benefit recipients?

Some Congressional Republicans want older Americans to prove that they work or are looking for work to get those benefits.

Here’s why it took a pandemic to make it happen, and why the practice is probably here to stay.