I drove my Mercedes to pick up my food stamps

acesup · July 2014

I have been fortunate to never have to apply for assistance, however, I used to work at social services for 8 years. I have heard it all. People scamming the system happens, yes, but THAT is the exception. And the system sucks. It absolutely sucks! Once you are on, it is damn near impossible to get off because there is no sliding scale. In my state, you can work while receiving food stamps, but not cash assistance welfare. A single mom of 1 gets $322 a month in cash plus around $300 food stamps. A MONTH! If she needs rental assistance, she has to qualify for cash assistance which means she can't be working (this is different than section 8 because in my area section 8 has a 5 yr waiting list- as if you know 5 years in advance that your life will fall apart). So she gets rental assistance for 1 yr max and is required to attend job search and is given daycare services and transportation. And then guess what! She finds a job! It isn't much because she was a stay at home before her husband left her and never looked back so she hasn't much experience and didn't finish college. And you know what happens to all that assistance? The cash, the rent, the daycare, the transportation? Yup, it's gone. Just like that. Almost immediately. No she doesn't get 6 or even 3 more months of help to get back on her feet. It's a fucking mess. Childcare assistance? 2 yr wait list. Because you know 2 years in advance not only when you will have a baby but that you will need help with Childcare.

So yeah I don't judge people who show up in a nice car and I don't get why people do? Maybe they borrowed it to get there because they don't have a car?! We don't know them or their story.

Things can change so fast. I took an extended leave after DS because we were fortunate enough to have saved for it. Well the day I got back to work I was written up and facing termination or suspension (for some BS because the welfare office treats their employees just as bad!). I worked until my hearing but now was concerned because we used a lot of our savings so I could stay out. Well, two weeks later DH had to get his appendix out and was out of work for 6 weeks due to the nature of his job, he needed extra recovery time. He usually works OT too. There went the rest of our savings. He went back to work and about 2 months later I got suspended for 3 months. There went our backup savings, we had to cash in a CD that was for emergencies. Welcome to emergency! We were one more bad thing from disaster. We were lucky to survive. I was lucky to find a new job while on suspension. But I definitely learned how quickly your comfortable life can go to barely making ends meet.

Sorry for the novel. Hopefully it's not eating my paragraphs. TL;DR version - don't be a judgy bitch!

MyMorningCoffee · July 2014

At work, I see people fall into severe financial hardship every day. It is awful. I work at a hospital that conducts many clinical trials, so it is the only place where people can get the last line treatment for their child. It is in one of the most expensive areas of the country. Often, one parent stays with the child here and the rest of the family stays at home. They are not only paying the exorbitant cost of long-term hospitalization, but they are also paying for their mortgage at home, lodging near the hospital, and losing one income. Insurance only does so much for one of those issues.

I get why people want to think that people who need assistance brought it on themselves. It is a really unsettling thought good, hard-working people can fall into serious financial trouble. I think it comes from the same place the whole "I could never forget my child in the car because I am a good parent" thing.

I am glad to see that most of you all get it. For those who don't, think about how many people require long-term medical treatment. It is probably more than you realize, and like I said above, health insurance only goes so far.

fancynewbeesly · July 2014

MyMorningCoffee said:

At work, I see people fall into severe financial hardship every day. It is awful. I work at a hospital that conducts many clinical trials, so it is the only place where people can get the last line treatment for their child. It is in one of the most expensive areas of the country. Often, one parent stays with the child here and the rest of the family stays at home. They are not only paying the exorbitant cost of long-term hospitalization, but they are also paying for their mortgage at home, lodging near the hospital, and losing one income. Insurance only does so much for one of those issues.

I get why people want to think that people who need assistance brought it on themselves. It is a really unsettling thought good, hard-working people can fall into serious financial trouble. I think it comes from the same place the whole "I could never forget my child in the car because I am a good parent" thing.

I am glad to see that most of you all get it. For those who don't, think about how many people require long-term medical treatment. It is probably more than you realize, and like I said above, health insurance only goes so far.

This how I feel. DD got sick in January. We live in a nice area, HCOL, etc. We used up our savings since I was out of work for 12 weeks. Many times I was in the hospital with her. Fortunately we do live a car ride drive away--an hour and a half. So DH was working and I was able to bunk in her room in the hospital. However, during those hospital visits--our food bill was astronomical. DH was eating food at home, but I was eating take out/cafeteria food 2-3 times a day.

I go back to work finally, I have about 6 weeks left of school. Then I am off for the summer with no income and our savings is gone. DH and I are both having anxiety about making it through the summer. I know that the fall will be hard because we still have to play catch up since January. i can completely see how things happen to people all the time. Just one circumstance/bad event away from federal assistance.

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