💙Today's SNAP Story is brought to you by Kaiser Permanente.

When Mildred thinks about Atlanta decades ago, she remembers something many neighborhoods no longer have: Gardens. “My mother always had a garden in the backyard,” she recalled. “And so did other people in the neighborhood.” For Mildred, those gardens represented more than food. They represented community. “We may not have always had what we wanted,” she said. “But we always had a little bit of what we needed. And if we didn’t have it, somebody else did.” Today, life looks very different. Like many older adults living on a fixed income, Mildred relies on SNAP to help pay for groceries. Her monthly benefit is less than $100. After paying for rent, utilities, transportation, and personal care expenses, there is very little room left in her budget.