Lent’s ‘Crosses of Resistance’ — Hunger
Young Advocates Resist the Scourge of Food Insecurity
Chelsea Puckett
April 1, 2026
On Sunday, March 8, stricter work requirements for SNAP recipients—now 40 hours a month—went into effect, excluding nearly three million young adults juggling school, work, and responsibilities at home from accessing the program.
Like so many of us, the Sr. Carol Coston, OP Fellows are deeply concerned about the destructive impacts of the Big Bad Budget and are particularly troubled by cuts to SNAP. The budget law will strip $186 billion from the program over the course of the next ten years, just as the Coston Fellows and their Gen Z peers transition into adulthood.
They’ve already seen their community and campus food pantries stretched thin, and yet these cuts and stricter work requirements will force millions more young adults to make choices no one should have to make—deciding between buying groceries, paying rent each month, continuing their studies, or picking up prescriptions.
As the Grassroots Mobilization Youth and Young Adult Mobilization Coordinator at NETWORK, I collaborate each week with our 12 Coston Fellows. I get to witness their shared commitment to the long work of justice in spite of, and I believe, because of this moment that has left so many young people discouraged and hopeless.
I was also a witness to the Coston Fellows’ dedication and hard work on March 8. The same Sunday that monthly work requirements for SNAP recipients increased and blocked so many young people from accessing federal food assistance, the 12 Coston Fellows were busy at the NETWORK office in Washington, preparing to advocate on Capitol Hill.
The Fellows’ weekend in DC began at the Capital Area Food Bank. We sorted frozen turkey drumsticks, hamburger patties, and bacon strips that would be trucked out to food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, senior programs, group homes, and multiservice nonprofits in the area. We learned that the food bank plans to serve 10 million more meals this year than anticipated, due to the rising need in communities as a result of mass federal layoffs, as well as the significant cuts to SNAP that passed in the Big Bad Budget last summer.
On the Monday of their visit, the 12 students shared stories with their senators’ offices, highlighting the deep need for affordable housing in their communities: New Orleans, Cleveland, the Bronx, Los Angeles, Miami, Dubuque, Chicago, Milwaukee, and San Antonio. They proclaimed their firm belief that no one should have to choose between having enough to eat or keeping a roof over their head.
It has been a few weeks since their visit, and the Coston Fellows are now busy organizing Stations of the Cross on their campuses. Here in Washington, I keep coming back to that hopeful, radical dissonance on the third Sunday of Lent—when SNAP became even more inaccessible to millions of young people and at the same time — a group of college students gathered from every corner of the country and prepared to speak truth to power. They carried their crosses of resistance into the halls of Congress and reminded us of what it looks like to hunger for justice.
Take Action with NETWORK:
Will you write a letter to your Members of Congress to urge them to restore SNAP funding? All of us deserve fresh food to eat – no exceptions.
Chelsea Puckett is NETWORK’s Youth and Young Adult Mobilization Coordinator.
