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Originally Posted by onesnowyowl
Recently my roommate told me that her next roomie, who's moving in in a few weeks, asked her to get food stamps. Because my roommate is on work-study, she qualifies. My roommate makes plenty of money and gets a good chunk of financial aid, but her future roommate has very little money. I told roomie if new roomie wants food stamps, she should go get them herself and not expect a free handout from roomie. Furthermore, I told roomie that people using food stamps who obviously don't need them really pisses me off. There are people out there who DO need assistance, and they have a harder time getting it than students on work-study who may or may not need the assistance. For instance, I had a friend that because his parents made too much money (though they weren't giving any to him) didn't qualify for work-study. Thus no food stamps--but he was so poor he had to end up going to the food bank on a regular basis. AND he was working a regular job on top of going to school full-time and serving in the Army Reserve.
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The food stamp program varies from state to state; as for in Ohio, [afiak] you cannot buy tobacco or alcohol with the Ohio Direction card [aka food stamps]. Furthermore, I qualify for the work study program [in college] and my family sure as hell doesn't get food stamps [we do live comfortably enough to go without food stamps or assistance]. Even if I qualify, hmm...should I get them ? probably Not. I'd like to think I won't need them in the coming months when I start college, but we'll see.
Although I can understand fellow TFP'ers frustrations, remember that the examples you see probably aren't the typical/primary recipients. I've volunteered occasionally on sunday nights with some others from my high school and help feed the various homeless people in downtown cleveland. Those people sure aren't living the same lifestyles as described.
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpos...0&postcount=69
As described above, there is a cycle for the lower class to eat more unhealthy. Also, remember that the food prices in stores where the the poor shop are often more expensive than for suburban/higher socioeconomic status. Why ? First off, the location of 'big box' volume stores [i.e. wal-mart, costco, etc.] are in the suburbs and are only now starting to sprout up in poorer, urban areas. [I don't have the data here, but I know the link's out there...]
Secondly, the costs to maintain a store in poorer/urban areas are often more expensive, because insurance rates and shoplifting rates are higher. Lastly, those who do not have their own automobile are at the mercy of their nearest shop [even an expensive convenience store] because it's not always feasible or available to use public transportation for the grocery shopping. Thus, the cycle continues, and the poor can't stretch their culinary dollar to the capacity of others.
Don't forget about the working poor either.
4 weeks * $5.15 an hour [federal min. wage] * 50 hours of work [which is quite a bit, imho] = $ 1060 a month.
That's before taxes, rent, food, cost of transportation, anything.. Don't forget, sometimes you'll have to take off of work to go pick up your PA check and deal with the admin and bureaucracy there. Employers aren't always understanding that you need to take off for such matters [Asking your boss that you need off for that, it's very difficult and humbling - because of the stigma that is attached to people on PA, a co-worker had to deal with that, plus transportation to everywhere. The co-worker has to walk everywhere - he's surely a healthy lad, at 23, albeit with ulcers]
No matter where you live, if you're trying to climb out of poverty, it's an uphill battle, and sometimes you can't tell if and how you're trying to help you....
/props to everyone's civility thus far in the thread
catcha back on the flipside,
will.