Why Phoenix is fighting for SNAP funding
Phoenix delivered the following remarks at the Opportunity Means Everybody Rally outside of the Connecticut Capitol Building on April 28, 2026.
My name is Phoenix Lightbringer. Some of you know me from my talks to Congress. Some of you know me from The Connecticut Project's social media posts.
Like me, you are feeling the squeeze with life, finances, and everything going on in our country. Like many Americans right now, I am unfortunately unemployed. But thankfully, I have qualified for SNAP funding, which has made my life significantly easier while I look for a job.
I have been extremely grateful for SNAP, because it has helped me keep my family fed when I couldn't afford the rising cost of groceries. I have skipped meals, pinched pennies, and gone to multiple food banks in a month to make sure I'm putting food on my table and not let my family starve.
But, things have recently changed.
Now, because of the federal budget in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, I now have to work or volunteer 80 hours a month just to keep qualifying for SNAP.
Eighty hours a month of volunteer time is roughly 20 hours a week. That's a part-time job. I volunteer 20 hours a week for only $200-300 a month in SNAP – not pay – and I can only spend that on some types of food. That's abhorrent. I am doing all of the right things required, for the equivalent of $3.75 an hour.
On top of all this, I just found out a few days ago that I won’t qualify for SNAP anymore. Through no fault of my own, I've been dropped from the program due to an “agency error,” and they're saying I owe them back the money I used to buy food.
I am not alone. More than 32,000 Connecticut residents have lost SNAP since the federal budget went into effect. We’ve lost SNAP at a higher rate than the national average, and more are losing it every day. This is an emergency.
Is this what we've become now? Denying starving families food? I'm not going to take it. I'm going to do something about it.
If our federal government isn't going to take care of its people, our state needs to step up and do its job. I'm calling on Governor Lamont to release the $300 million in funding Connecticut has saved up specifically for this reason. I can't think of a more troubling time than when its own people are starving in their homes.
We have the money, we have the will power, but we have a governor who refuses to help us, refuses to help his own people. We need the governor to fund SNAP now.