Am I annoyed or sympathetic?

[sune42]

Just a couple of opinions here. Do I think the add in the first post is a little much? Yea, if you are begging on the internet (no matter if it's your own or the library) I don't think you can afford to be too picky.

However, there have been some nasty remarks about people on food stamps on here. How do you know these people's situations by looking at them in the grocery store line? Not everyone is a bum, drug addict or scamming the system. Perhaps they had nicer clothes because they had jobs, then lost them? I know a couple that has lost their jobs, making about half of what they used to. Should the be punished for having a nicer car? Oh sure, I guess they could let it get repo-ed and screw up their credit and then they could walk to the store to use their food stamps. I guess that would make some people happy.

Junk food is cheaper in the short term, and like someone said, if a person is working a couple of jobs then processed food is a time saver. I am not saying it's the best choice, but it's a choice they have the right to make.
My generation is a generation that grew up on convenience and/or processed foods. I know how to cook, but the majority of my friends do not. They also don't know how to preserve food.


I guess I am just saddened by the lack of compassion.

 

[Camelot Farms]

mom'sfolly :

Gee, I thought that you should have to wear sack cloth or a special armband if you were on public assistance.

I'm gonna use that one someday!​

 

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:
I teach "nutrition on a budget" classes at a local domestic violence shelter since many of the people there are in the same category. They simply don't know how. They grew up in a world where every food is a convenience food and are intimidated by cooking.

I understand fully what you are saying. To me baking a cake on a whim is not a big deal because I've done it hundreds maybe thousands of times before while someone who grew up with Macdonalds and canned vegetables, often looks surprised when they see me get up throw a cake in the over and sit back down within fifteen minutes when ever i get a sweet tooth.

I taught those same kinds of classes, same clientele. I agree 100%!

 

[scbatz33]

Ya know, maybe some people here haven't ever tried to apply for food stamps or other gov't assistance. Maybe you don't know it's income based and factors such as you car blue book value, your family size, your rental cost/mortgage and property values are accounted into it.

I too know people who have lost their jobs and applied for assistance only to be turned down because their car was too new, their house in the "nice" part of town, etc.

I was a single mom making barely $7 an hour raising two toddlers and couldn't get more than $85 a MONTH in FS AND they said I'd have to give up my child support to get it!

My mother had 4 kids and my parents never made more than $40,000 a year and couldn't get assistance. They were told they made $7 too much. We were as broke as a person can get when I was a kid. But we had a car and my parents had a mortgage. We had our lights and water turned off, but made $7 too much for food stamps.

YET there are folks, and you ALL have seen them, in the store dressed to the nines, driving practically new cars with all the bells and whistles buying $400 worth of crap on FS.

I know, personally, a girl who had two kids, got cs for one afdc for the other, FS, Housing assistance, medicaid - every dime the government handed out - she made more on wellfare than my husband and I did both working two jobs. She was on wellfare, her mother was on well fare, her aunts and her grand mother all on wellfare. They were lifers - they knew the system and they worked it.

Those people exist. It's not lack of compassion to see the truth.

 

[TriciaHowe]

Didn't read all the responses.....

I would never donate pepsi or any soda to anyone. We drink water or iced tea that I make (pennies a serving). Coke is a luxury for DH. Kids very, very rarely. I have and will again donate eggs and roosters that can be processed. I just donated 4 doz. duck eggs to a family with 8 kids. Mom is in her late 30's and had an aneurysm burst. She is in a coma and dad is doing all he can at the moment. I have also donated hay and horse feed to a neighbor who was having a bad time. I have seen a CL ad before for a man trying to get a bag of dog food to get through the week. Nothing for him, just feed his dog and he will be happy. I have been there with $2 in my checking acct. praying to make it to the next paycheck and nothing comes up in the mean time. But to ask for luxuries like soda is just crazy to me ( and name brand cereal). I don't even get name brand cereal. We get malt-o-meal in the bag..... I also love thrift store shopping for the kids clothes (name brand jeans for $2 I'm on it!) and just being frugal in general. We can make a little go a long way!
Especially at the cost of gas and animal feed right now. My feed bill was $40 higher last week than 2 weeks before.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I've had foodstamps on several occasions over the years. DH has a job that peters out every november, and starts up again in March, so he's often laid off during those months, taking side jobs to make ends meet (or as close as he can).. and we did use foodstamps when we needed to. But we used them wisely and made good choices, and NO, it was never enough to cover all our food for the month, but it really did help. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to feed your family, when times are tight. But I just think it's nuts to have a specific brand demand...

 

[KristyHall]

mom'sfolly :

I don't know about anyone else, but I donate my name brand clothes, strollers, shoes etc. I just took a load of clothes to the local serving center, the only thing wrong with is that the styles have changed and as a long waisted girl with short waisted pants, these shirts no longer covered my belly. These clothes will be resold, or the clients of the food pantry will be allowed to "shop" with vouchers. Nice, name brand clothes, gently worn. I see name brand strollers and shoes at Goodwill, many of the shoes are unworn. So these poor people will end up wearing the same clothes that I wear. Gee, I thought that you should have to wear sack cloth or a special armband if you were on public assistance.

Just because someone is well dressed, and has things, doesn't mean they have squandered their money, or are less deserving than someone else.

their expensive car could have been given to them or already paid off before they fell on hard times as well and they could be on assistance temporarily. the car we could be their soul means of transportation as well.​

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
I used to buy all my children's clothes at once upon a child. It was located in a part of town where the majority of the donations were from "wealthier" people. ie, my son wore name brand clothes, "gently worn", for the majority of his elementary years.

The folks I was standing behind, DID NOT, buy their clothing or that stroller from Goodwill or any other "used" clothing shop. If you had seen them, you would have thought middle class, upper management, maybe pushing 6 figures a year folks. Steaks, shrimp, seafood, name brand food just like the clothing. And the ring on her finger was NOT bought at a second hand clothing store.

Where I was living at the time, it was common place AND common knowledge that the main employer of the town hired not so legal or folks with sketchy papers to work in the plant. The men would work and get paid pretty well and the women would apply for gov't assistance and say they weren't married. So they were receiving full pay and full benefits.

The simple truth, whether folks like it or not, is people work the system. They lie and cheat and steal. The folks who are honest and decent and fill out the forms truthfully are the ones who get the shaft.

The system is broken. Period.

there will always be people abusing a system and breaking the law

The speed limit on a road is 50 mph. but people speed. does that mean the speeding laws are broken? Should we just rip up all the roads and make everyone walk? My tax money goes to help pay for the roads people drink and drive on. should i demand we stop having road repair because people do stupid things with their cars.

There are kids that do poorly in schools, and i don't have children, but I pay land taxes to support the schools. Insuring every child gets a free education sounds like welfare to me. maybe we should abolish that too. Especially if those free loading kids abuse the system for a free lunch and do not work hard enough to get good grades. Darn free loading parents expecting me to pay for their children's education.

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
not necessarily. one thing i taught in my nutrition on a budget class is that most junk food, pound for pound, is actually more expensive. compare a container of whole oats that takes less than three minutes to make, to a box of sugary cereal. compare pop tarts to a pound of in season fruit and vegetables. a pound of beans can be as little as 50 cents a pound, i challenge you to find meat for that price consistently (other than chicken).

Also healthier food sticks with you longer, making you less hungry, making you consume less which saves you money in the long run. healthier diet means healthier body, more energy, better work output, and less visits to the doctor. also making your own baby food, which can take less than five minutes and is not labor intensive in the slightest can save a parent hundreds of dollars to thousands a year.

 

[scbatz33]

So then we should just turn a blind eye to it. Oh well, every one does it. Oh well, people break the law.

I have never said wellfare is bad. Or should be abolished. What I've said repeatedly is the system is ripe with abuse. The whole reason they went to the plastic cards was an attempt to reduce fraud and people selling their paper fs for cash or other non-approved items.

But where there is a will, there is a way. People still scam the system. There needs to be a better way to reduce fraud. To make sure the people getting these services are actually in need of them. That perfectly healthy, capable people aren't sucking dry service and resources that are need by others who are really in need of them.

Kids who receive free or reduced lunch are not the same as someone who purposefully lies to get benefits they don't deserve. That's an apples to oranges, and slightly ridiculous, comparison. Programs like that are put in place to help children who are in need and can't help themselves.