American Photography 30 Winners

One Family, Trying to Keep Food on the Table

Winsome Stoner at the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger food pantry. She helps people with refrigerated food selections. One Family, Trying to Keep Food on the Table. Over the past five years, America has quietly slipped into a hunger crisis. It began in 2008, when hunger and food insecurity spiked across the country as a result of the financial collapse. Congress authorized tens of billions of dollars for food stamps and other nutrition programs to slow the rise of hunger, but not enough to bring it back down to pre-recession levels. Last year, 49 million Americans suffered from food insecurity. Food stamp use has risen to historic levels, and food pantries are struggling to keep up with unprecedented need for their services. And instead of getting better, things are about to get much, much worse. In November 2013 the food stamps program received an automatic $5 billion cut, affecting every single family that relies on the program. Photographer John Trotter spent time with one of those families: Brooklyn’s Winsome Stoner, her husband, and her five children.

One family, trying to keep food on the table

Denroy Stoner, Sr., with his youngest daughter, Kezia, 3, sit front row for Sunday services at Full Gospel Tabernacle of Faith Church in Brooklyn, NY. One family, trying to keep food on the table. Over the past five years, America has quietly slipped into a hunger crisis. It began in 2008, when hunger and food insecurity spiked across the country as a result of the financial collapse. Congress authorized tens of billions of dollars for food stamps and other nutrition programs to slow the rise of hunger, but not enough to bring it back down to pre-recession levels. Last year, 49 million Americans suffered from food insecurity. Food stamp use has risen to historic levels, and food pantries are struggling to keep up with unprecedented need for their services. And instead of getting better, things are about to get much, much worse. In November 2013 the food stamps program received an automatic $5 billion cut, affecting every single family that relies on the program. Photographer John Trotter spent time with one of those families: Brooklyn’s Winsome Stoner, her husband, and her five children.