When people talk about SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, conversations too often devolve into stereotypes. The recipients are “lazy,” they should “get a job,” and with a “proper work ethic,” no one would need help putting food on the table.
Well, I am a professional opera singer who has performed on the Metropolitan Opera stage nearly 1,500 times. I’m also the president of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union of professional singers, dancers and staging staff across the country. Not the kind of person who would be labeled with those stereotypes, right?
And yet, none of my successes would have been possible without SNAP benefits.
Fifteen years ago, my wife and I were living in a tiny studio apartment in Chicago. We were recent graduates, chasing our dreams of careers in the performing arts and piecing together freelance gigs, anything that paid. We hustled constantly, but the math didn’t work. On top of everyday life expenses like transportation, rent and groceries, the industry's expenses—like music lessons, coaching and scores—also came out of our pockets. We were working constantly but falling behind.
So, I applied for and received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. That support allowed us to continue eating healthy food and to stay financially afloat while we worked toward establishing our careers. It gave us something invaluable, too…time. Time to build sustainable lives in the arts rather than abandon them for something else.
Today, my wife is a successful cruise director and performer. I built a career as a professional singer and now serve as AGMA’s president, advocating for thousands of performing artists nationwide.
SNAP helped us survive. And we are far from unique. Nearly half of the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP are working—often in jobs that simply don’t pay enough to live. Of those who aren’t working, most are disabled, over 65 or caring for others. More than a million are veterans. These are not freeloaders. They are our neighbors, our co-workers our fellow citizens.
Yet the stigma remains. Even now, 15 years later, I still feel traces of the shame society taught me to feel. I remember standing in a grocery store line, trying to shield my SNAP card from the people behind me. Struggling to get by is hard enough. We shouldn’t make it more difficult by shaming those who use the resources meant to help them.
I’ve come to learn that this stigma is a political tool. It allows those in power to undermine programs that millions depend on. Hunger has always been used as a weapon, an act of economic and political warfare. When people are hungry, when families are forced to choose between rent and food, they are easier to control and silence. Food insecurity is not a natural state of things; it’s a manufactured one. It’s the direct result of policy decisions that prioritize wealth over human dignity.
Right now, that is exactly what’s happening. The Trump administration’s decision to let SNAP funding lapse during the government shutdown, ignoring bipartisan calls to extend it, puts 42 million people (one in every eight people in our country) at risk of losing access to food assistance.
Whether you’ve used SNAP yourself, know someone who has, or simply believe that no one should go hungry, now is the time to speak up. Contact your representatives. Demand that food assistance be funded and protected.
There is no shame in needing help. I’m living proof that SNAP doesn’t enable dependency—it enables possibility! It allows people the dignity of survival while they build their lives. And that’s something worth fighting for.
Ned Hanlon is president of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).