To the editor:

This would seem to be a very poor time to cut the funding for food stamps (SNAP) and WIC (Women, Infants and Children). Food prices are going up, and so are the costs for necessities that are purchased at the grocery but are not food, such as soap. Requests for help from the food banks are going up. Just Food in Lawrence saw a 145 percent increase between the first four months of 2011 and those of 2012.

Food stamps have been very effective for many years in helping people who are in a temporary bind avoid slipping into poverty. They have helped others pull themselves out of the poverty status, which is around $22,000 yearly income for a family of four. Then too, they have softened the sharpest edge of poverty, hunger, for many others. Nearly half of the 46 million food stamp recipients are children. We can imagine how much it must hurt to know that your children are hungry and that you have no food to give them. We were all children once; surely we can find a better time to cut these important funds.