As caretaker for her 23-year-old son with disabilities, Sarah Beiswenger tries to make sure he has plenty to eat. The 55-year-old Mankato woman makes grocery runs for her son, trying to stretch and make the most out of the meager amount of federal SNAP food aid he gets each month.

“Sixty-six dollars per month is what he got,” Beiswenger said. “So, it doesn’t go far at all. I shopped the sales and did coupons and everything, and I got him three bags of groceries, which, when they’re plastic bags. It’s not a lot.”

“He doesn’t quite get it, which to a degree I’m glad,” Beiswenger added. “But then I had to say, ‘No, I can’t pick up such and such at the grocery store because your SNAP is gone.’”

Beiswanger’s son is one of the more than 440,000 Minnesotans who rely on the federal Supplemental

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