'We kind of realized that this was a much bigger issue that was facing families,” a social work intern at the school said. “And it was directly related to the struggles at the state level with SNAP benefits for families.”
“It’s an awful thing,” Dunleavy said. “We all admit that. And on behalf of Alaska, I apologize to the folks that are impacted because this is an important issue.When Wendler principal Marcus Wilson found out about one student’s family struggling to get food, he decided to send out a message to all Wendler families to see if it was a bigger issue.
Families impacted by the delay in state benefits can pick up the food from the school or, in some cases, school staff brought the food directly to homes. Wilson said, when he made the deliveries, he learned about families’ various struggles. Kailey Otten, a social work intern at Wendler Middle School, prepares food for families. Otten is working toward her master’s degree at the neighboring University of Alaska Anchorage.
State health officials did not respond to questions about the current SNAP backlog for this story. However, they said in late January that they’dIn his Talk of Alaska appearance, Dunleavy said he thinks the problem could be solved by updating the state software that handles the application requests as well as by hiring enough staff.
“As much as it has been heartbreaking to see how many families have been impacted, it’s also been really heartwarming to see the way that community has just stepped up and immediately responded to a request,” Otten said.
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