I’m a teacher at an elementary school in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the second week of the government shutdown, I noticed two kids stopped bringing lunch and didn’t get in the cafeteria line. When I asked why, a boy whispered, “Mom said the card might not work.” That afternoon, I made him a cup of instant noodles in my office. He looked at it and said, “I’ll pay you back tomorrow.” I smiled and said, “You don’t have to.” But I knew he was talking about dignity, not noodles. #WhenSNAPStops