Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Caityln Augustyn’s Kensington floral studio Sunday morning rivaled a fine dining experience: Porcelain plates sat atop gold chargers, each setting adorned with a pink carnation and a message. One read, “You deserve to be fed — body and spirit — without conditions.” It was the inaugural “Breakfast Club,” a bougie free community meal being hosted every Sunday this month at Augustyn’s artist-loft-turned-flora-oasis-turned-diner. Inspired by dinner parties with friends — and galvanized by cuts and reductions to the nation’s largest anti-hunger program amid the longest federal government shutdown in history — the breakfast’s mission is to feed Philly. “No one deserves to experience food insecurity,” Augustyn said at her studio, dubbed “The Flower Kitchen,” where she runs her business, Fistful of Flowers. A one-woman florist to A-listers, like Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, and Charli xcx, Augustyn added: “I want people to be able to feel good and feel supported.” Whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars, known as food stamps, will reach the pockets of low-income families this month remains in limbo: The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s decision late Friday, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to continue withholding some aid. And despite about $100 million in SNAP payouts starting to reach Pennsylvanians, federal authorities have since told states to “undo” any steps taken to issue full food aid as the shutdown stretches well past the one-month mark. » READ MORE: Trump administration demands states ‘undo’ full SNAP payouts as states warn of ‘catastrophic impact’ Meanwhile, serving the country’s hungry has fallen to local pantries, community benefactors, and good samaritans. Augustyn crowdsourced $400 for supplies and enlisted about a dozen friends to volunteer their time, kitchen skills, and homemade bagels. The florist said 35 families RSVP’ed for Sunday’s breakfast. Kyleesha Montague, a 32-year-old single mom and Community College of Philadelphia student, who relies on SNAP, has had to adjust her usually plant-based, pescatarian diet and dip into money allocated for her bills to feed her family. But the breakfast club offered Montague a respite from having to be creative in the kitchen and a couple hours’ reprieve to get dressed up and treat herself to a meal she otherwise couldn’t afford. She ordered the “Classic Jawn,” bacon, fried egg, and cheese on a choice of bread, off the eight-option, hot pink menu. “The environment made the food taste so much better,” she said. “It gave me a feeling of professionalism, like I have some dignity. I didn’t feel out of place.” Not all the patrons were among the 42 million American households who use SNAP benefits to buy groceries, but many felt the SNAP stoppage’s ripple effects and cost-of-living hikes. Storm Moya, 26, and Mannie Aguirre, 43, have stretched their budgets to support their families who rely on food assistance, giving up little luxuries, like Friday night pizza, or budget shopping for bulk foods, like pasta, rice and cheap meat. “We pay into a system and the system is not working,” Aguirre said. Augustyn’s message to congressional leaders who can’t strike a deal that would reopen the government and restore benefits to millions was simple: “Put your money where your mouth is, baby.”
