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Your Take: Could You Live Off Food Stamps?
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Sean Callebs will try and he’s documenting the whole experience on CNN. This is a little more realistic than the $1 a day meal experiment, which was more about publicity than reality. What I find most interesting about Callebs’ reports is the insight it gives him and his readers. “… it stinks being hungry when you go to sleep.” (Feb 13th) How many people go to sleep hungry? I probably have only a handful of times in my life and it was mostly because of scheduling, not because I couldn’t afford it. I think that unless you have lived it, you can’t faithfully criticize.
Much like when I talked about living on minimum wage, it’s difficult to understand the lifestyle until you try to live it. For some, the thought of food stamps invokes the image of someone on welfare spending it on cigarettes and alcohol. For others, it’s seeing a bright light when you’re lost in the woods at midnight. Regardless of how you feel about food stamps, the majority of people who get food stamps need them. They’re not living the good life financially, sipping a Mai-tai on the beach; they’re struggling.
I find myself struggling with the idea of handouts because I believe, especially in America, you can, through hard work and determination, succeed regardless of where you start. Food stamps and welfare, while necessary, will give some a reason not to work as hard and I recognize that; but I think you have to accept those who will take advantage of the system if you want to help those who just need a little bit extra to get them over the hump.
What are your thoughts on food stamps and other welfare programs?
(Photo: pengrin)
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We’ve had to use food stamps before, and for about a year that was the only thing that kept us afloat. We had no health insurance and no place to live. We had to move in with my wife’s parents for a while. In a society as wealth as ours (even during a recession) we do surprisingly little to help our own poor.
Food stamps have never been a part of my diet plan. I hope they never will be either.
I have however observed many people who are on food stamps, having lived and worked in areas where they were more widely used.
Though I hate to say it, especially after Daniel’s comment, I see food stamps abused more often then used as needed.
In Wal-Mart, I’ve watched a couple try and buy a bunch of name-brand cereals with foodstamps. When the cashier said they couldn’t, they pulled out a wad of $100 bills and just paid cash. This isn’t an isolated incident, I saw something like this dozens of times. I’ve even seen someone try to buy beer with food stamps.
This isn’t saying this is all they are used for, but the abuse leaves me bitter.
Of course there will be abuse with any kind of social welfare distribution… there’s no denying that. However, I think for the most part, food stamps serve a very important purpose for those that utilize them. You can’t really judge a program by one of its users. I mean, it sounds like that person was taking in income from illegitimate sources and not reporting the income due to legal circumstances, which does piss me off as well. However, you can’t use that to pass judgment on everyone that uses food stamps because there are those that really do need them.
Just because they pull out a wad of hundreds doesn’t mean they are abusing the program.
Many who use food stamps also do not have bank accounts or checking accounts. They simply go to Wal-mart, get their paycheck cashed (minus the $3) and use the hundreds for their expenses.
It’s not only the poor that abuse these programs. I know a woman who cleans homes for a living, she told me that she sells her food stamps 50 cents on the dollar to the woman she works for that lives in a 2 millon dollar house. There was a case years ago of a Doctor who was caught in South Central L.A. His main office was in the burbs but he came to his office in the hood only once a month, when the people recieved their welfare vouchers to buy prescription meds from him cheap so they could sell it on the streets.
If they qualified for it, which is a very hard thing to do, then they are entitled to the benefits plain and simple.
Um…. FYI, you can indeed buy brand-name cereal on food stamps. I tend to buy store brand myself on most anything, but that isn’t the point here. The point is, either you’re confused as to what it was they were buying or you’re a complete lyer. Besides, with the right coupon, the name brand cereals can be CHEAPER. Plus, when I get paid I sometimes get $100 bills, although I usually tuck them away and reserve for my rent, and use smaller bills to buy non-food items… but once or twice I have used a large bill… Don’t be so quick to judge. I hate it when people give me dirty looks in the store. In fact, I have two jobs and even then it is hard to get by. I only get $96 in food stamps, but they are a great help for me as a single mom.
Although this is way off topic, I was just thinking that the bigger issue here is wage. One of my jobs is as a CNA at a nursing home… and I only get paid about a dollar over min. wage (they pay me $8.50 an hour, and won’t give me more than 30 hours… but nowadays that is a lot of places cause they don’t wanna pay overtime or provide benefits). How about a world were we can all start making what we’re worth?! I’d take that over food stamps anyday!
Also, if I make just $40 dollars more than I have been lately in December, I will then make too much money to qualify… but did you know that daycare costs over $100 a week? That’s all my 2nd job is paying for! For anyone out there who gives me dirty looks when they see my card at the store, I just want to scream at them “I’m sorry my husband’s dead! And I’m sorry my mother won’t watch my son!” People who are entitled could never truly understand.
First of all, you can buy name brand food items with food stamps. So maybe you saw them using wic or something elese. They don’t tell you which items to buy as long is it is food items.
It’s a tough philosophical question. I believe that people will only help themselves if they are forced to – but I don’t think you can just let people starve, either. I guess I would say that food stamp availability is a positive thing. I do believe that people that aren’t disabled should be working if at all possible though. Just my two cents. Good post.
I think food stamps have that stigma like you pointed out in your article, but for most families they really need them. When you have no money and are struggling to survive, it is nice to know there is help out there.
I know people who’ve been on food stamps and certainly wouldn’t knock it, but I was surprised by the CNN article – mostly because the maximum food budget for one in New Orleans is more than our food budget for two in Michigan. Half again more. And we entertain a fair amount.
Granted, we do a lot of shopping at Aldi and have simple tastes, but I was shocked when my husband pointed out to me the difference between their numbers and ours.
This post pulls me back into the past, when I was a single mom, with 3 kids- working and doing the best I could and I was denied food stamps. I couldn’t afford to keep a roof over our heads, pay for daycare and feed us too – it was a terrifying time for me as a mother who loves her children.
I remember pleading with those folks only to have the gal say – ‘you need to quit your job and then we can help you – with housing, daycare, food stamps and healthcare.’ It was a sobering moment. One that still scares me. I am not one to live off the system and I still believe it would have been better had they just given me some help for a brief time.
I have no faith in the system or how the dollars are being used on the end, because it is set up to make people dead-beats.
I absolutely understand what you went through, my neighbor and friend was in that exact situation and denied as well. It breaks my heart to see her try like you and struggle only to see my husbands ex, not try, not struggle and be handed food stamps and medi-cal because she was a single mom and eligable even though we pay $800 a month for 1 child and medical insurance that she doesn’t use because she’s got medi-cal that pays for the copays etc…We were told that the insurance and the child support have no influence in their decision to give her the benefits.
We have no faith in the system because people like you and our friend are the one’s who need “help” yet only the people who want to be “supported” are the one’s who actually get anywhere.
I know exactly how you feel. My hours got cut where I work and I couldnt afford to pay our Rent, which was 350.00 I also am the mother of three small children. All the agencies I went to said I didnt make ENOUGH money to qualify for assistance. I had to earn at least 2 and a half times my rent amount. I was like, if I still MADE that much, I wouldnt even be here, I too was told that if I quit my job, I would qualify for cash benefits. I never quit my job and moved with a friend for now. I swear, they WANT you to give up and live off the system. Theres no help for anyone who actually tries.
I can probably live off food stamp for awhile, but I certainly would have to take the time out to plan and select ahead of time to make sure there’s enough to last through each distribution…
Would I be happy? Of course not. This isn’t a knock that food stamp makes a person a second class citizen or anything, more so that not being able to provide for yourself and your family, regardless of the reasons, is a difficult situation to be in.
I remember long ago in elementary, where I’ll be in the lunch line and some people will have reduce lunch price or use the free lunch program… and after class, their parents will pick them up in their Mercedes. Fairly certain thats when I’ve learned that there are people who abused the system, and people who truly need it.
1. I don’t believe that everyone can succeed, regardless of where they start.
2. If someone has the image of a person using food stamps to buy cigarettes and alcohol, it is pure imagination. As far as I know, only food can be bought with food stamps – not cigarettes, not alcohol and not even toilet paper.
3. People who qualify for whatever aid exists are POOR. Very poor. I don’t resent the poor, and I don’t resent the rich, either.
I do believe in social programs. I am dismayed that most of them are aimed at keeping the people poor (spend-down rules, etc). People should be rewarded for doing well and making wise decisions, not taught to spend until there is nothing left to “qualify”.
I agree with Jim’s assessment on the necessity of food stamps in our society, but…
I used to be a grocery store clerk in a town where food stamp usage was not uncommon. The store had one of those club cards which were needed to get the weekly discounts. To obtain a club card, all you had to do was fill out a form with your name and address. Almost every single person had a club card. I found that many of those on food stamps couldn’t be bothered. I could see that they could save money that visit if they had one, and when I asked them if they would like to fill out an application, I got a quick and stern no. I could have punched in the store number to give the discount (and I did many times), but I eventually became jaded. If the customer couldn’t be bothered, why should I?
Meanwhile, the ones in the store who purchased everything on sale, in bulk, and who had $40 in coupons, were almost never on food stamps.
Another sad site was seeing a family with multiple generations come in together, and the entire family being on food stamps.
Although I agree in the necessity of food stamps, I saw first hand that there was often little incentive to wean off of them.
1. I also don’t believe that everyone can succeed, regardless of where they start. If nothing else, incompetents with money and connections crowd them out.
2. Yana is correct: food stamps cannot be used for cigarettes, alcohol, toilet paper — nothing but food. In fact, they can’t even be used for hot prepared foods, for example the kind that many supermarket deli counters sell. If I recall correctly (it’s been a while since I was familiar with cash-register programming), they also aren’t good for “juices” with over a certain minimum amount of sugar, or for candy. And the change comes in more foodstamps, not cash (although most states now use electronic dbeit cards, I tihnk).
There is a market in illegally-traded foodstamps — but they’re dependent on fraud on the part of the recipient, the grocer. So if anyone is profiting largely from foodstamp fraud, it’s the (presumably) middle-class retailers who get the gov’t reimbursement for accepting foodstamps.
3. If you run the numbers on “dependency”, you’ll find that the vast majority of people who receive foodstamp or welfare assistance use it for relatively short periods of time.
4. If you really think that aid programs encourage dependency, try the experiment yourself: limit your assets to what the government says you can have to qualify for assistance, and then try to live on those assets and the value of assistance. You’re in for a shock, chums.
5. Finally, to the “free-lunch-and-Mercedes” commenter: if you even saw it (sure it was the free-lunch kid?), you still have no idea what the deal was. Maybe there was a death in the family, no insurance, and a leftover car from the good days. Maybe that was a rich uncle picking the kid up. Hell, maybe the car was stolen. Your unsupported anecdote is a pretty lousy basis for a personal belief system, much less public policy.
barryaran, I couldn’t have said it better myself. You really provided a good break down as to the topic of food stamps and dependency, as well as a solid response to the Mercedes comment (to which I was going to respond as well)!
I think for those that have never lived in such a situation where foodstamps is a necessity, its easy to pass judgment, and that’s what continues to spur this stigma that is forever associated with their usage.
I work in a Convenience store in a middle class suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. I ring out several customers daily who use an EBT card. Most often, they are buying frozen dinners, soda (which IS allowed to be purchased), candy (also allowed) and chips. By the way, did you know ENERGY DRINKS can be bought with the food card??!! After their groceries are paid for they will bust out their cash to pay for their beer, cigarettes (brand name!!) and LOTTERY TICKETS! I am not kidding!! If these people are in such dire need of financial help to meet their nutrition needs than A) what are they doing grocery shopping at a convenience store…where everything costs twice what it does at a grocery store B) why are they buying crap and C) how can they afford to drink, gamble and smoke premium brand cigarettes?! 9 times out of ten they are dressed more expensively than me and driving a better vehicle than mine
You are right Jen. My sis worked at a convenience store and witnessed the same thing. And although some items are not allowed, when my daughter worked at Walmart,if the customer raised a stink, the CSM allowed the purchase. She also saw women with $50 nails and weaves, use their EBT cards.
A recent study I read on line said that there are about 36,000,000 of our fellow citizens who at some time have a food deficiency. Only a small % have access to food debit cards. Another 2 million depending upon charitable organizations but even if the charitable organization doubled their contributions it would only feed a total of 4 mil. If we can purchase Presidential helio’s for $800 mil each and subsidize corn ethanol at the tune of $.50 gal and allow tax deductions for second and third home taxes/mortgage interest we are morally ill as a group and a society.
I hate to see so many anecdotal comments with seemingly false or misinformed info…
I definitely believe in the need for food stamps. In an economy where unemployment is an adjustable variable used to keep other things in line I just can’t let myself believe the mantra “Capitalism is king!”
Someone being out of work is a function of the economy we live in, whether it is me or you. >>>>At equilibrium, unemployment is a guarantee.<<<<
Everyone deserves to be fed in the richest country in the world, whether they work 80 hours a week or don’t have a job at all. The whole “its not that hard to…” may have been true for you, but respect the fact that your situation is different than another person’s situation.
I agree with Jim’s assessment that programs like food stamps (and welfare) will give some a reason not to work hard, but that you have to accept this abuse if you want to help those who are genuinely in need. I used to give $100 a month to a local food bank and then after losing my job, decided to volunteer there instead. I discovered one of the most frequent “customers” of emergency food banks (at least this one) was the elderly who can’t afford their medication and food. That convinced me to continue to give the money (and volunteer) every month at least until I no longer have any money left in savings to give. I don’t go to bed hungry and I don’t want anyone else to if I can help to prevent it.
I have been disabled for four years and I am living on the limited SSDI that I earned while working professionally for many years. SSDI was not a simple thing to obtain, and the requirements for additional supplemental income are quite strict (none of which I qualified for as my SSDI is higher than the cut-off point)
Would I have used food stamps if I had been eligible? You betcha!
I am doing well living on a very tight budget and I shop for food at the 99cent store, which can be a very economical and nutritious way to supplement your diet if done correctly.
I do not believe that people plan on being in situations that necessitate asking for assistance and, if it is provided, I believe the majority of recipients are grateful and do not abuse the system. There are always individuals who will try and outwit the system, but I doubt that would apply to many. Fraud and abuse exists everywhere. It includes physicians who falsely inflate their bills to Medicare hoping for the quick income. During this current recession, you should be able to identify many other people who tried to tweak the system to their advantage. I hope that anyone who feels that the use of food stamps is wrong does not find themselves in the situations that might cause them to wish they were available to meet their needs.
If food stamps were not available, I would have been a hungry child. (And even on food stamps, we didn’t eat all that well.) Did my parents make some bad decisions? You betcha. But it’s not like a toddler or younger kid can realistically go out and supplement the family income. I hate to be all “What about the CHILDREN?” — but at some point, our society should show some reasonable amount of compassion.
(And no, there wasn’t a whole lot available in our community in the way of private/church-type assistance. It was a mining town, and every time the mine shut down most of the men were out of work.)
I live in Mississippi and I have a lot of bitterness regarding food stamps. The majority of the people here that are on food stamps are on them b/c they are too lazy to look for a job. And like someone else mentioned above, their parents are on them, as well as their grandparents. SO many people abuse the welfare system here. The people who do need it, like a single mom making $9 an hour, don’t qualify for it. Don’t get me started on Medicaid. . . I am glad programs like these are available for those truly in need, but they are abused more often than not.
I’m a case worker and let me tell you. YOU MUST WORK AT LEAST 10 HOURS/WEEK TO EVEN QUALIFY FOR FOOD STAMPS. NO LAZINESS HERE. IF YOU DO NOT WORK, THE ADULT DOES NOT RECEIVE THE FOOD STAMPS, ONLY THE CHILD WILL BE ELIGIBLE. IF THERE IS NO CHILD IN THE FAMILY THERE IS NO ELIGIBILITY FOR A SINGLE PERSON WHO DOES NOT WORK UNLESS THAT PERSON IS RECIEVING UNEMPLOYMENT. UNEMPLOYMENT IS INSURANCE THAT IS EARNED FROM STEADILY WORKING A JOB FOR A PERIOD OF TIME AND BEING LET GO FOR NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN.
IN OTHER WORDS: THE SYSTEM DOES NOT BREED LAZINESS. IF YOU’RE TOO LAZY TOO WORK YOU WON’T EVEN QUALIFY. MOST OF THE TIME A SINGLE WORKING MOTHER DOESN’T QUALIFY IT IS BECAUSE HER EARNED INCOME PLUS CHILD SUPPORT USUALLY PUTS HER OVER THE INCOME LIMIT.
I’m an eligibility worker for cash aid and food stamps and I can assure you, you cannot “live” off the system comfortably. You do have to work to get cash aid. You do have to work if you get food stamps, unless you have a child under the age of a year old and you’re the only adult in the home. And if you’re not the only adult, the other adult does have to work. You can only buy food products, not alcohol or household products like diapers, toilet paper, etc. Personally, I would much rather have my taxes go to food stamps than live in a country where hungry people are walking around begging for food. And what is that tax thing anyway? People who say things like that, they’re going to complain about taxes no matter where the money goes. And I can confirm that a single (or even married) person who just “doesn’t want to work” is NOT eligible for assistance. You generally have to have children or be disabled to even qualify. And quite frankly, I don’t care what kind of food a person on food stamps buys! I’d rather them buy frozen pizza’s and feed their kids that then have their kids be hungry. I wish people would stop being so judgemental and realize that the rug can be ripped out from under any one of us at any time no matter how hard working or honest or holier than thou we may be.
My mother and I lived with the help of foodstamps for the first 6 years of my life and am grateful that it was available. We were also able to live with family and receive support from our family. Unfortunately, the system seemed made to keep the recipient in the system. But for some Herculean effort and faith by my mother, our lives may have remained in that predicament.
Now with the benefit of time, I can look back with a little bit more objectivity. Obviously free markets come with ups and downs, thus the need for some safety nets for those affected by them.
The question is: Do these safety nets necessarily need to be provided by the Government? It has only been in the last 100 years that our Government got involved. Outside of sparsely populated areas and/or rural areas I could see communities coming together to provide some of these services through organizations like the United Way, The Salvation Army, etc.
Just some of my thoughts.
Food stamps are a very important benefit. Theres 25-30 million Americans using them at any time. There is no reason that the richest country in the world should have people going hungry.
Unfortunately food stamp fraud does exist, but its not nearly as widespread as some people seem to think. Overpayments from fraud are estimated at about 2%. But the solution to that is to crack down on the fraud and enforce the laws.
Talking about the poor going to bed hungry is ridiculous in a country where the poor’s biggest health risk is obesity.
They may be only getting crap calories, or not getting proper nutrients, etc, but hunger is not the big issue facing our poor.
I am a 65 year old retired in Florida. I get $52.00 a month Food Stamps. With the prices here in St Petersburg, this last for 8 days and I hardly can eat like a king. I don’t have any food or money the last week of the month. I go to the food banks for a meal every other day. Some life.
I hope I’ll never need them but if I do, I’ll be grateful they are available to me.
Unfortunately, poverty is a complex issue.
I’m not crazy about handouts, but some people truly need help.
I actually grew up on welfare so I know the pitfalls of such programs.
What drives me nuts is welfare abuse which used to be a massive problem here in BC, Canada.
You could apply and then get a cheque the next day.
With age come wisdom
In high school i worked the cashregister and have some of the same stories as the the other comments, the kid going through my line with a 25 cent can of pop and a food stamp dollar until mommy had enough quorters for a pack of cigarettes. Or the Oppertunist that bought food stamps from a recepiant for thirty or fourty cents on the dollar and saved a bunch of money on his groceries.
I became jaded over time. But now that I know more people and know more about how the world works and the system has somewhat improved with those little scan food stamp cards in my state. I feel that the system is neccesary. And is strick. Improvements I suggest are.
1. Make it like a job with an annual review. If the person doesnt make steps to loose the need, like getting a job or improvement in lifestyle. Then limit benifit. Some recipients have low paying jobs or a medical need. Not who I am talking about.
2. And the most likely solution is to take away the learned food stamp recipients. Most of the arguments aggainst food stamps fallows the line of thinking, by feeding the poor, you create more poor. Although some of you may argue this is unfair, keep in mind that there are those that think something for nothing is un fair. The long awaited solution is not all the children or dependents of food stamp recipients to be eligible for food stamps. Parents would then teach children how to fend for themselves instead of milk a system.
3. Law enforcement. Punish those who abuse or misuse the system
I really feel that there are a number of excellent comments on this post ranging from those who clearly show that a stigma still exists in regard to food stamps, and from those who understand how food stamps can and are used.
A good friend of mine has been unemployed now for about 2-3 months. Unfortunately, he ignored my advice of making sure he had an emergency fund to last him 6 months before he made his move away from home. His unemployment doesn’t cover his expenses (rent, internet, cell, food, car payment). While he’s considering selling his car because he has access to public transportation, I urged him to apply for food stamps as a temporary thing to get him through til he lands another job.
He flat out rejected the idea and said that he would never disgrace his family by applying for food stamps. At first I didn’t understand his hostile attitude towards them, but then I remembered the comments that some of my old undergraduate college buddies would make about those who needed them. The comments always pissed me off, and my friend’s stigma against food stamps irked me as well.
Anyhow, thanks for posting the link about Calleb’s quest. I hope it helps to erase the stigma’s associated.
gov’t assitance should be stepoing stone, not a crutch.
The food stamp debit cards are a great idea but I know that these food stamps can also be sold because a person who has the card can go to the store with the one they are selling them to and let them shop and then when they get done the other person pays them the cash agreed upon which is usually 40 cents per dollar return average as I knew someone who did this once. It is not a fool proof system. The food stamps are great for non abusers of the system. I think sometime in the future there will be a plastic age where there will be no more money exchanging hands and the people on welfare will get what they get and that is it and will not be able to sell the food stamps so easily and this will probably bring more people to the table to get more help as cash jobs will no longer be there as the government will have a record of every money transaction taking place. Just my thoughts and some truth.
Dedicated – can you let us know who/what did offer you help during that hard time (if anyone)? I’d like to know how someone like me (who at this point in my life is able to donate to charities regularly) could help someone in the situation you were in years ago…someone who is going to land on their feet eventually but is going through a rough time. Could I call up a local daycare and ask them if they knew a family that could use help? Did a church help you? Or do I just save up some cash so that when bad stuff happens to people in my social circle I can slip an annonymous card containing cash in their mailbox?
The problem with food stamps is that they aren’t accompanied by enough restrictions nor any education about budgeting for food and cooking. I frequently see people with 2 (or more!) carts brimming over with potato chips, sodas, snacks, and other expensive and nutritionally useless “food” and then paying with foodstamps. No wonder they can’t get $200 in food stamps to last a month!
Too many people think believe in the fake idea of a “living wage”. Who gets to decide what that is and why? Who gets to decide what kind of lifestyle a living wage will support. Does it support a single person, renting a room? Or an apartment? How about married people? What about children? In short, a living wage is a hoax, a way to pay people a lot more then their labor is worth, according to the market. A living wage keeps people dependent instead of wanting to improve themselves.
The problem with welfare is there aren’t enough controls to make sure people are using money given to them wisely. Sure, there are people that are helped, but they are becoming the minority. If welfare was so useful, why are there 5 generations now on it, with 50-year old great-grandmothers?
I resent the fact that some people have the notion that people who get food stamps or want too are lazy or don’t want to work….I’m a single mother of one child, currently laid off for about 2 months now…actively looking for work, I used to make $35,600 a year..Now I’m living off my unemployment checks..which is $275.00 a week and child support…I can’t barely meet my bills…I have to extend making a payment of my electric bill for example…just to make ends meet…I made a application for food stamps…the worker was so rude…I dislike the feeling like everyone thinks I’m trying to free load…I’m not…I’ve worked hard all of my life…pay my taxes..I was told I couldn’t get experdited food stamps cause I have over $150 in income…Its been a month…still no stamps…I’ve given up on it…I’ve gone to food banks to get food to make sure my son get fed…I sure hope I get a job soon…I can’t stand living like this.
As a former cashier i saw both sides of this issue. the timid people who really needed and were embarrassed by the need for the ebt card and who quietly said ebt when paying for their groceries. and the brazen i am entitled to and deserve types clonking down the aisle in their Jimmy choo shoes and slinging their Louis Vuttton hand bags and loudly announcing food stamps as their form of payment as they bought their crab legs and lobster tails, soda candy and junk galore not the so called nutrituous foods I believe this system is set up for. working for minimum wage myself behind the counter and resenting they were eating and dressing a whole lot better than me. I think if you can afford expensive clothes purses manicures etc you can surely afford to pay for your own junk food. and having another child when one is getting too old to be in the system or to get more stamps is not the way to go either.
How do you know if the “designer” handbag and shoes were real? There are lots of fakes out there; I see people selling them on the city streets all the time. Also, how do you know if someone used to earn a good living and now is unemployed? It’s not like you can sell used designer shoes to buy milk & bread. Lots of women give themselves good manicures which look professional. The designer clothes could be a gift from a wealthier relative.
For the first time in our 14 year marriage, we have had to turn to food stamps. I lost my job a few months back, and my husband lost his 2 weeks ago. We have an 8 year old. I am out 12 hours a day looking for employment. There is nothing out there. Meanwhile we are hungry. Here is what surprised me: We get almost $600.00 a month in food in the state of Washington. That is 2 X what we have ever spent on groceries! I was shocked! Plus we automatically get free medical, dental and vision, plus almost $600 cash every month for a year. With food stamps, you can’t buy alcohol, but any food item goes. That really surprised me. I could buy lobster and caviar. Not that I would, but I am shocked there is no restrictions on it. I feel that I have paid a lot in taxes for 17 years and am glad the state is there when we have no where else to go, but I now see why there is so many people on welfare. It is easier to do nothing and get more, than to work and get less on this system! And yes, I am still interviewing everyday and can’t wait for us to get abck on our feet.
How do people buy cigs and beer with food stamps? They sell their food stamps. That’s how. It’s insane.
You know, the one thing that really gets me is the cash benefits. When my husband and I worked for a casino, we would see them go to the ATM and pull out cash for the slot machines. I talked to my case worker about this, because it says it is against the law to use welfare cash for gambling. She told me that it is their money and they can do what they choose with it. Alcohol, Cigarettes, hookers, whatever you want! How about it be restricted to gas, toilet paper, clothes, light bulbs, necessaties!
This hating the poor attitude makes me just as sad as hating the rich. If someone qualifies for aid, it is up to the person what to do with it, as it is HIS OWN money. Once we pay taxes, it is no longer our money. And in fact, it never was, if it could be required of us. This anger is misdirected. Sadly so. There are already restrictions on some forms of assistance, such as food stamps, but to want to extend the restrictions further is to treat the recipients even more like second class citizens – or really, something worse than that.
This household does not purchase soft drinks or snack foods, for instance. If a welfare/food stamp recipient wants to spend his resources on Coca Cola and Lay’s potato chips, for me to tell him he can’t do that because I think those things are garbage is to infringe on his very value as a human being.
Yeah, and if we tell him he can’t buy potato chips, what’s next? Can’t buy tuna fish because it contains mercury? Can’t buy meat because it’s more expensive than beans? Can’t buy eggs because of cholesterol? You want Big Brother in your life? If someone buys a lot of junk on a small budget–food stamps or not–he will be broke at the end of the month, and hopefully will do better next month.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. People pay taxes but then still want to claim eveything that comes from them as “theirs”. I’ve heard comments like “I’M buying his food”…”How’s it feel to be buying that with MY money?” It’s saddening and makes me angry at the same time. Who is anyone to tell anyone else what they should be buying, food stamps or not?
@Yana
You are soooo way off. TAXES ARE OUR MONEY. WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE THE GOVERNMENT. We, the productive people in society, support government expenses and must have a say in how the money is spent. Because we live in a republic, we don’t have a direct say. And because the inmates have taken over the asylum, they keep voting themselves more and more money!
Welfare is supposed to used by people to maintain their themselves at a minimum until they can pick themselves up and rejoin productive society. The liberal left policies of the last 45 years have guaranteed that we get 3 and 4 generations of people that have never worked and keep making babies.
Once I’ve paid taxes, the money is no longer mine. I’d love to have a say as far as how the money is spent. This is why I vote, and also vote with my wallet where there is a choice. I don’t approve of the mismanagement of tax dollars, but the fact is that there is nothing I can do about it. I accept that we have to pay taxes.
This principle is like casino gambling, in that if one goes and gambles $20, and for example wins a $750 jackpot, he might say, “Now I’m playing on THEIR money”. That’s not the way I think. The minute the $750 is won, it ceases to be “theirs”.
We can pretend that we are the government to console ourselves, but it isn’t any consolation to me. My big issue is health care. If I had a say, we would have universal health care.
We will always have people who need welfare. You speak of people being “productive”, as though employment is what that word means. And you might be right, but as far as being a contributing member of society, that means spending money. Welfare recipients generally spend every dollar they receive, and that is what is expected of them, lest they prosper. If we keep ‘em down, they will need more assistance, but that assistance is money to spend and transfer to the prosperous.
Wrong. Being productive, by its very definition, has nothing to do with spending. DUH! It has everything with providing a service or product in exchange for the money a person receives. A person getting money for nothing (and spending it) is a drain on society because society gets nothing in return. I want to spend my money instead of giving it to someone else to spend.
When I was a young teen, about 25 years ago, my parents used food stamps. They also drove a Cadillac Coupe DeVille and I remember being embarassed not only by the food stamps, but what people thought of the car we were driving whilst doing so. It was also humiliating and stygmatizing to stand in the free lunch line.
It wasn’t until much later as an adult that I realized that the car soon went away and we moved into an apartment because the bank had taken both the car and the house (my dad lost his business, I just thought he had a job change). Sometimes people run out of food long before the repo-man arrives, so judge not.
As an adult, I ended up hungry and trying to get food stamps myself. I was trying to support myself entirely through college working 25 hours a week as a grocery checker, on Pell Grants, and student loans (which I’m still paying off 20 years later). It was a big struggle to pay rent, utilities, clothes, food, books, tuition, a trip to the dentist, whatever, and some weeks I had $3 left for food. I was told that I was ineligible for food stamps because I was “voluntarily indigent.” And that I’d have to be available for full time employment to qualify. In other words quit college. I didn’t quit college; but if I had been eligible, surely I would have used them without shame or embarassement, and impervious to the nasty looks of the ignorant.
These comments make me sick. I have multiple sclerosis and food stamps are a necessity for me. Im bedbound now, and before someone lashes out at me for having a computer, guess what? ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS what my family situation is, not that anyone would care before they cut me down.
Everything I do gets criticized because I get some food stamps. Im not living in luxury by a long shot, my clothes are all used. I dont even own a purse.
I worked a full time job while putting myself through school..that’s right, I didnt get a free ticket through college. I busted my ass raising two kids on my own and going to school at night to better my situation.
When I got MS, I worked until I became bedbound and paralyzed, I have something that helps me type and it takes me forever to type anything now. I had to comment on this because Im sick and tired of people thinking Im lazy and stupid because I get help with my food.
Im an intelligent woman who happens to need some help, there’s nothing wrong with that. I get recertified every 2 months in my state, and the welfare dept knows enough about me and I follow the rules like Im supposed to.
So you all can get off your high-horses and stop preaching about food stamp recipients being lazy, because not all of us are.
Oh, and Kelly the caseworker above, you are INCORRECT! I suggest you read up on your laws or go back in training and learn your job again.
And for the cashiers, I used to be cashier myself, and I never questioned why a person was using food stamps and I couldnt care less what they bought. If you’re spending that much time noticing what the person is buying, then your job is way too boring…offer it to the food stamp recipient…I know ID take it in a heartbeat just to get this stigma off of me.
makes me sick to go to work everyday and pay for this!
I’m on food stamps. I have a newer car ( a 2000), and my family does wear name brand and designer clothing. I even have a genuine Louis Vuitton purse. I get weird looks when I use my ebt card to buy food, but so much of it is just based on perception. I bought my car for $400 a year ago. I buy our clothes mainly from thrift shops, paying 10-20 cents apiece for my son’s clothes and 20-50 cents apiece for my husband and my clothes. My purse I found while cleaning a vacant apt. for my landlord, which is part of how we pay our rent every month. My husband and I were both laid off over a month ago. Six days a week my husband works at a temp job, working over 8 hours and bringing home $40 or less a day, which is the only way we pay our bills and the rest of our rent. While he works, I walk all through our very hilly town, pushing my son in his stroller, looking for cans and scrap metal to recycle for a little extra money. The gas in our car is paid for solely by people we give rides to, and we use extra gas to put in job applications that are too far away to walk to. EVERYTHING in our home, from our furniture to my sons toys, we either buy from thrift stores or garage sales, are hand-me-downs, or we simply find on a street corner( which is how we got my son’s high chair and his bed). Obviously, we’re not living the “high life”. We stretch our food stamp budget to the breaking point because I also use it to buy cleaning supplies(vinegar and baking soda) and I make our health products(such as shampoo) and our dog’s food,all of the supplies being food products I can buy with food stamps.I use coupons whenever I can. We buy very little packaged food, the majority being simple food such as beans,rice,and produce. I could easily stretch my food stamps farther if I bought junk food such as chips instead of fruit and white bread instead of whole wheat flour to make my own, but I don’t want that crap in my family’s body. At the end of the month, when the food stamp amount gets low, my husband and I simply stop eating to make sure we can continue to buy good food for our son(who eats more than both of us combined). Normally it’s only for 2-3 days, but last month we had family stay with us for several days, so it ran out a week and a half ahead of schedule(we did get a referral from our case worker so we could go to the food pantry). There are those who abuse the system,who sell their food stamps to buy alocohol or drugs, but I know several people who sell some of theirs to make ends meet. My mother is disabled and receives a $600 soc. sec. check, which she uses to pay the rent,bills, and anything my 3 younger siblings need. She sells at least $50 of food stamps every month, receiving $25, which she uses to pay the co-pays on her medications THAT KEEP HER ALIVE. We’re not all drains on society. My husband and I pay taxes. We volunteer in our community alot. For us, our food stamps and our medicaid card are godsends. I know what it’s like to go to sleep hungry, not just one night but every night for months on end. You feel weak, you can’t sleep, and the gnawing in your stomach makes you physically ill. It’s hell. And I feel no guilt in using food stamps to make sure my son will never feel that way.
Lots of good comments on both sides of this subject here. I have been on both sides also.
A relative of ours was a mailman and saw who got food stamps and had nicer cars than our family did with a full time job. Cars could have been in someone else’s name or something. There are abuses, but there are people who use the assistance wisely.
When we were on food stamps we had more food stamps then we needed at the time. My wife is very frugal and very good at meal planning. We saved our food stamps that we didn’t use each month and after several months, bought a half side of beef to fill our freezer. During that time we got free or cheap dental and found a really good dentist that we still go to after about 20 years. I finally got a job when the economy picked back up so the food stamps were a big help to keep us going during a hard time.
Maybe there should be some more education as to nutrition and using money wisely for those on assistance who are capable of working.
It is getting harder and harder for some organizations who want to help to get information on who needs help because of privacy laws.
I’m scared. I was out of work for a year; I somehow managed to put something on my rent once in awhile to keep me from getting booted to the street! I never had food, and I was hungry all the time, I was in such despair, I have no one to turn to for help, I would just sit and cry all the time. I was embarrassed to go get food stamps, but I finally did it.
I couldn’t afford gas for my 98 truck which I had bought and used for my job which was maintenance, so I tried to sell it, but no one would buy it, even cheap! I had a hard time just trying to get a trade straight across for a different vehicle, one better on gas mileage. I finally did… get someone to trade straight across, my 96′gmc NICE truck for a 94′ piece of crap little Chrysler. Looked good, would hardly run: but I got a job, and it got me to work. For the short time I had the job… Talk about abuse. Abuse is absolutely everywhere… I worked for a cell phone co. and I constantly felt that I was about to get fired, even though I continued to be in the top three producers there. Only a few months was I there, and my supervisor who was clearly (to me anyway), not very bright – (along with the entire staff, 98% being of the same culture). I learned too quickly, and did too well, and I was terminated for a really ridiculous reason. I know he was afraid I would take his place! But I was making minimum wage, and I needed desperately to catch up my rent which was waaayyy behind. I was almost literally giving my check every two weeks to my landlord. I never treated myself to any toys, or conveniences. I just worked, and worked; I even worked over time, and every payday, I gave almost all my check to back rent. Almost to the day of catching up on my rent, I lost my job. There I am, no job, AGAIN! And although my rent was caught up, I had no money coming in again, and I hadn’t reported my income while I was receiving food stamps. Now I have lost my car because not being able to register it due to poverty, I was pulled over, (ON THE WAY TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE NO DOUBT) – (IN THE E.D.D.’s PARKING LOT!!!) They towed it, and little known to me would keep it for 30 minimum, at a hefty charge daily, there was no way I would get it back. Not a felon, not a big law breaker!, But take my damned car? They condemned me! I was planning on sleeping in that piece of Chrysler crap!! I received my action notice in the mail, stating and pretty much flat out threatening me with bold and capital letters, that boy was I gonna get it! And boy, was I NOT! Gonna get food stamps anymore. I haven’t had them for months, and now I don’t know what will happen. I’ve had to take in a pregnant woman and her boyfriend to pay my rent, I hate my life and I don’t think I can take much more of the way this wicked world works. I am serious. What the hell? They are going to crucify me aren’t they? I know what I did was wrong, I knew it was wrong when I did it, I needed it, And I have sincerely lived my life doing the “Right Thing” for years because I know it is the way that God wants it to be. But I stand around STRANDED-HUNGRY AND WHIPPED BY THIS CRAPPY CITY AND IT’S JUDICIAL SYSTEM – All the while; incredibly, I watch all the thieves, drug dealers, low-lives and just plain old users and abusers just freaking PROSPER!!!! Always have a car, never work, do what they want all the time. Chopping it up on their free cell phones, eating out all the time, whatever!!!
AND I JUST DON’T GET IT!? Please tell me something… Is there any way that they will forgive me of what?
elli – I guess you’re saying you can’t get food stamps because you failed to report income in the past. You should ask somebody at the food stamp office whether you can get food stamps after a certain amount of time. Other than that, all I can think of is the Salvation Army for help. The rest of your story isn’t unique, and I’m sorry that people have to suffer like that. In my opinion, the only mistake you made was to trade your truck – well, taking in people to pay your rent doesn’t sound good either, but it sounds like the truck was something good to you. See, trading it didn’t improve things. And taking in people might give you new problems. I wish I could be helpful. I’m only replying because it seems you really want input. I’ve been in dire straits before, and the only reason I ever got out of them is primarily LUCK. Not to say that I didn’t do the best I could, but the fact is that you can do everything right and have everything turn out wrong. Still, if there’s a lesson for you so far, it’s about that truck. If you have something good, don’t give it up, because later you won’t have it or anything better. If you keep it, you will at least have that one thing that’s good.
I am 26, one of the hardest working people many of my employers say have ever had, have a college degree and tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. I make a little over ten bucks an hour as a baker, it’s back-breaking, extremely physical work. Try doing a sweaty workout for about 7-8 hours at a time and you’d understand. I can’t find a job in my field (education) right now because of the economy and where I live…the university pumps out teachers and there’s a saturation. I love where I live, however, and my fiance is in school here for the next few years. I have no qualms getting $150 a month in food stamps now, because I know what it is to continue to scrape by every month and not save a dime. My quality of life and health is important to me, so I do choose to buy clean, healthy, organic foods with my benefits instead of loads of cheap ramen and other crap. Because I go the route of whole, unprocessed food, I can get a lot of beans and rice out of my money. BUT…why should other people here judge what foods people choose to buy with their benefits? How is it your place to say what people should be buying? Luckily I live in a community where I can use my benefits at the farmer’s market and it’s understood that a lot of us here are living on low incomes and that’s just the way it is.
So for those of you out there that are grumbling in the middle tax bracket, angry that there are welfare programs out there to support those that are not paid enough to do the menial jobs YOU choose not to do yourself because you have the money for convenience (housecleaning, bread baking, pizza making, retail industry, etc), be quiet. Your money grubbing and bitterness is not making the world or this country any better. Someone is always going to abuse handouts, and that’s just the way it goes. Just like there will always be those types of people that make more than enough money and choose not to share the wealth. There are plenty of upstanding hard workers that need help too.
Agreed, there are plenty of upstanding hard workers that need help too… and when I could have used it my wife and I were only lucky enough to receive WIC because we had one young child under 2 and another over 4, made too much with unemployment to qualify for any other assistance. This after working my A double S off for the last 20 years. And when I had to humble myself by going to the store with my father-in-law with those WIC cards to buy some milk, cheese, bread, rice and some baby food and saw a ‘new to the U.S.’ gal pull out enough food stamps to cover for the 300+ dollars in groceries she was buying kinda miffed me a bit…
Well we are back on our feet and have been since 2003, before this recession hit and have learned a great lesson from that past experience. Do not rely on others to help you out,the government, friends, even family. That is just the way the world turns unfortunately. Everyone for themselves!
You know most people on foodstamps have a job. They pay taxes as well as you.
Ya’ know, I don’t know who or what to believe anymore. You can’t believe the government because everything they say has a political spin to it.
I, the taxpayer, am not responsible to make sure you can live your life the way you want to without being financially responsible for yourself.
You, the American, are guaranteed Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
I, the taxpayer, am not responsible to make sure you find Happiness.
Nor am I responsible to make sure you are fed, clothed, housed, transported and doctored to your heart’s delight. That’s your concern!