Without work but with a family to feed and bills to pay, Auburn’s Harmon Kobin struggles to make it work, every day.

“It is difficult,” Kobin said of his situation. “My wife works and her money goes for rent, but it leaves us with only so much for other things, like school (supplies) and medical costs. I have no insurance.”

Kobin is part of the Marshallese community, a small but growing part of ethnically-diverse Auburn. In his tightly knit neighborhood, families depend on each other to get by.

They survive, but it’s never easy.

Many low-income immigrant families, like Kobin’s, face even greater challenges today, especially at home, where putting food on the table is a constant concern.

The concern will only sharpen if the Legislature eliminates a state-run food program. Lawmakers, struggling to adopt an already slashed state budget in special session, will decide the program’s fate.

If the state eliminates the State Food Assistance (SFA) program, as many fear it will, the blow would fall especially hard on a number of immigrant populations, including Marshallese. Latino and Hispanic families, among the fastest-growing populations in the greater Auburn area.

Responding to shrinking federal food aid, then-Gov. Gary Locke established the SFA in 1997. The program, which operates like its federal cousin, has proven vital to qualified low-income families fighting hunger.

If only lawmakers and budget makers could foresee the pain their decisions could inflict.

Depending on what comes out of Olympia, the food supply could be in jeopardy. More families and children will go hungry if the SFA is dropped, said Siobhan Ring, mobilization director for the Children’s Alliance, an advocacy group that works to improve the well being of kids through policies, priorities and programs.

“Many low-income working families count on the program to put food on the table” Ring said. “The average benefit is $144 a month (for families), but the program is at risk now.

“Already with the rising cost of gas, with the rising cost of food, more moderate-income families are struggling to put food on the table,” Ring added.

SFA funding was cut in half last year, and only a pending lawsuit prevented the reductions from going into effect, Ring said.

But recently a court lifted the injunction protecting families from the cuts. At some point next month, families will face a loss in benefits, Ring said.

“And that’s about $2 per person per day,” she said. “(It’s) a recipe for increased hunger. It’s absurdity.”

Officials say local food banks will be unable to make up the difference.

The Auburn School District would feel the shock in the rising number of kids coming to class with empty stomachs. The district already supports about 54 percent of its students with its free-and-reduced meal program. In some schools, that percentage is well into the 80s.

“If those kids have their benefits cut, they’re coming to school hungry,” said Carol Barker, child nutrition services assistant supervisor for Auburn schools. “And that affects their behavior. It affects their absenteeism. It affects our high school dropout rate, their attention (span) in the classroom. So it’s very important that these kids have food.

“It’s going to have a major impact on their lives if this goes through.”

Kobin has kids in Auburn schools. His family left the Marshall Islands to start a new life in the U.S.

The Marshallese left their homeland in large numbers, in part, because their economy was haemorrhaging jobs. The U.S. gave them the option to enter the country without a visa and to stay indefinitely –status stemming from this country’s use of the islands as a nuclear testing area during the Cold War.

The first Marshallese who came to Auburn received help from churches. Others followed, with supportive ties to family and friends.

But the Marshallese, like other immigrant groups, continue to face many challenges, from overcoming cultural and language barriers to struggling to find work amid a sour economy.

Securing basic needs and enjoying the fruits of their labor remains a struggle.

So does putting food on the table.