Keep state food assistance

I appreciated the March 4 article about the families from the Marshall Islands who live in the Spokane area. The article mentioned that Marshallese families may come to the United States to work, but they are ineligible for most economic, medical or social services. One important support that families have been able to receive in Washington is state food assistance (SFA), a food stamp look-alike program that extends food stamps to documented immigrants who aren’t eligible for federal food assistance.

The state created SFA more than 10 years ago, and it was a move we can all be proud of. No child, no matter where their parents come from, should go to bed hungry. SFA helps many families, including some Marshallese residents.

Now, some lawmakers are trying to eliminate the program and take food off the table for 12,500 kids in our state. Doing so would pull the anti-hunger safety net out from under many members of Spokane’s Marshallese community.

My husband and my daughter are from Micronesia, and this law will affect our family.

Tracy Tiwebemal

Spokane