As Philadelphia prepares to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, we find ourselves reminded of our nation’s founding ideals of liberty, justice, and a commitment to the common good.
Anniversaries are a time for us to take a hard look at the past and consider where we want to move to in the future. Today in Philadelphia, we have over 275,000 individuals, including more than 103,000 children, struggling with hunger. These numbers are not abstract—they are real people in our communities. It is the mother in Germantown working two jobs and struggling to make ends meet, the veteran in Northeast Philadelphia unable to find steady employment, the third-grade student whose only reliable meals come in her school lunchroom, or the senior in Fairmount who retired but the cost of living is just too high. In a country founded to form a more perfect union, too many are being left out of that promise.
Hunger in America in 2026 is not a problem of scarcity. It is a problem of access—including access to wages, transportation, and systems—that make food impossible for some families and individuals to get. Food, a basic resource everyone needs, and nutrition, a critical piece to ensure growth and health, are simply out of reach for millions in this country. The opportunity to grow and thrive for too many is cut short.
Recent changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will only make this struggle more difficult. Since the beginning of this year, almost 90,000 Pennsylvanians have lost their SNAP benefits, and we expect to see more people thrown off the program in the weeks, months, and years ahead. As groceries and gas prices continue to rise, the decision to pay for food or rent, food or medication, food or anything else will only get harder.
SNAP is our nation’s first line of defense against hunger. It responds quickly in a crisis, supports local businesses and farmers, and helps families put food on their tables. Food banks like Philabundance work to supplement households when their SNAP benefits cannot last throughout the month, when families make too much to qualify for the program, or when a household is in a crisis. When SNAP is cut, food banks see longer lines and a deeper need in the communities they serve—threatening the promise of freedom and liberty even further.
Philadelphia was not only the home to the Declaration of Independence but also the Constitution, a document grounded in the idea of “We the People.” A sentiment that we are all connected. That our communities are strongest when we all unite to solve common challenges.
When people unite at Philabundance, it reminds us of this commitment and that we the people, feed the people. It reminds us of the ideals of this country that hunger is not someone else’s problem but belongs to us all. And so does the responsibility to address it.
As we celebrate 250 years of a country founded by the people, we must remember that the people include the senior unable to buy groceries, or the parent going to bed hungry, or the child going to school without breakfast—and we must do better.
The story of our country is not perfect, but it is also unfinished. We must all work to ensure we have strong nutrition programs like SNAP to keep our country fed, do our part to be there for our neighbors, and lift up our communities.
Freedom is strongest when people are nourished, opportunity is real only when people can thrive, and our patriotism is measured not only by how we celebrate but how we care for one another. We have the resources to end hunger in this country. We just need the will to do so.
We the people, feed the people.
