food stamps and how they make people feel

I've been on food stamps before, when it was just my daughter and I. I didn't feel so bad using them, but the way I felt applying for them was bad enough. The caseworkers made me feel like a lesser human for being there. I was trying to go to school to better myself and get off aid, but they would always schedule my mandatory appointments while I had class. I was studying an allied health profession and absenteeism was not allowed. Many times I pleaded with them to reschedule. They usually did, but they weren't happy.
Now, years later, I work part-time at a convenience store. I run EBT cards and a lot of the time, I'm amazed at the crap people buy with them. I won't begrudge a person a treat, soda, snacks for the kids, whatever from time to time. Everyone deserves these things sometimes. But some of these people spend $25.00 on junk on Fri. then come in Sat. and buy more. My husband and I both work, and we can't afford to spend money on convenience store junk food every day. I don't mind people getting help, but they really should spend it for real groceries. Again, the occasional treat is fine, but daily? Some of them buy all that junk on EBT, then hand me a $50.00 to pay for cigarettes. This is what bothers me about it.
My husband was laid off a couple of years ago for three months and was called back with a large pay cut. We still haven't gotten back on our feet completely. We don't qualify for any help, so we just do without. I feel for those who are honest and are suffering so bad right now. I don't think our leaders care on bit about us and our needs.

reply to post by State of Mind

its border line slave labor.

reply to post by brilab45
if there we more like you willing to help when help is needed, would there be any in need? For i always helped when i could not much but it does add up, now them days are gone will they be back? For it does seem to me, by the ones living next to me are living pay check to pay, check SS check to SS check, the ones that got retirement, sold their home and moved on, now it is a darn if you do darn if you don't neighborhood some do not see for days for the do not want to seen because of the money troubles. how to help them when the will not ask.

judgemental ppl really make it easy to just crawl in a hole and die
nice job cashier i'm shur you enriched countless lives .
whith all the money you saved you can buy a big foot stool becuas you are on a very high hoarse

reply to post by bekod


Somehow my U2U GOT to someone else. Anyone on this thread that needs help...... Contact me at [email protected]. I'm for real. I will check this thread for accuracy. I have no problem helping anyone!

I will send cash only to folks previous to this post and not in great numbers, but enough. I'm for real. Let me know your needs. Only those that posted before this post. I'm not rich! Just "feeling".

I really do feel for everyone and wish I had a million dollars to help out everyone.

I've helped a good number of good folks. It is my spirituality.

reply to post by brilab45


good for you sweet sweet . that is mighty kind of you .
$650 should cover the mortgage thank yours

Why does what other people think have to do with taking care of yourself and your families???

In a capsule...it shouldn't. At the end of the day everyone of you out there should be living your lives the way that is best for you, in spite of the strangers or the family members that just don't get it.

Pride is self defeating and only another word for an ego connected emotion...sometimes we will hurt ourselves worse than anyone else out there....next time you are headed that way...ask yourself, why.

Everyone has to eat to survive...unless of course you are one of those new hybrid CPU units the government hasn't told us about. If you qualify for an EBT card...don't think there are any "stamps" in use anymore and if there are...those are what are being abused. With the price food is at this time...take all the help you can get.

In my state, the rule is less than $2,000 a month before taxes. They don't care how much you have left after taxes...but someone on unemployment making less than $2,000 a month can draw both unemployment and a maximum of $200 a month in food stamps personal for one person. Families have their own criteria but it's still a decent amount from what I have been told...something like $200 per child under 18...and parents would get an allotment of $150 per month. So a family of 4 would be bringing in $700 a month for food...better than a sharp stick in the eye, ya think?

Like I always tell my daughter...never let pride and fear or other people dictate how you should live your life...you do what you have to do to survive, never show your weaknesses...you do what you have to do to live your life to the fullest...ya never know when it will all be over and you should enjoy it the best you can while you are here.

reply to post by brilab45
just wanted to say thank you, for it all helps out, understanding or with the day to day things one might need, with people like you tomorrow will be a better day, one more ray of light to shine through these dark days.

reply to post by jplaysguitar


Chuckle, chuckle. Wish I could do that. Waiting for lottery on that bill! LOL

i just kinda skimmed through the responses after page one, so forgive me if this has been brought up already. Americans need to realize Food Stamps, S.S. and other gov. benefits have been paid for BY US already, when you pay purchase tax, pay income taxes, have money taken from your checks etc.
Workmans comp. is insurance, as is unemployment comp. that you pay for as you work, key word is insurance; you wouldn't hesitate for an insurance company to pay for your car in an accident or your health insurance to cover an illness.
The problem is that politicians have gutted and ripped off these funds, which are/were there for all of us to use when needed. Some folks for some reason (through bad press and propaganda) forget that this is what taxes and the gov. taking from paychecks is what this is supposed to be paying for.
Of course there are those trying to beat the system, but off of gov. handouts? Get real. Those using the system for their personal gain ain't gaining much from food stamps. Mostly crack heads selling food stamp cards to local hustlers (who tend to be doing all sorts of things illegal, least of which is buying up food cards).

We are now entering or have entered a corporate feudal state. These corporate kingdoms keep us as serfs, indentured servants and peons. And to get the smallest of us to stay in line they use the next up on the ladder to push the others down. (Look up "Capos" from the nazi concentration camps.) Even though those on the next rungs up will never make it to the top and will forever be on the ladder with everyone else. This was a tactic used not only in Nazi concentration camps but also in the deep south where it was used in mining (and other industry) with whites against blacks. They (TPTB) have been pulling things like this for a long long time. Where i live is rural and very poverty sticken (i'm retired so i'm not so affected), and almost everyone is on SS disability or foodstamps (or both). Where are the JOBS that the GOP promised they would bring if they were put back into office in 2010? Where is the change Obama said he'd bring? You see they are "playing" us for fools and as long as we look at each other as lazy or the crimminals, they are right.

And for my GOP friends who claim Christianity i leave you with this - Mat. 25:34 to Mat. 25:44
And to my heathen brothers - it doesn't matter does it

This thread is a double edged sword.

Im 25 years old, and I have to pay for EVERYTHING myself. I pay rent, pay for all my groceries, Gas, utility bills, ect.

While I watch these other people Get free food and housing. These people living for free have enough money to buy beer and party on the weekends.

It just pisses me off.

I MIGHT be able to accept the free food part, but the fact that Section 8 exist is bull#. Free housing??? Thats is insanly unfair. The Section 8 on the other side of town has apartments that are TWICE the size of mine.

I'm tired of it. all off my tax dollars.

Call me an asshole I don't care what you think. Watching everybody else get everything free and handed to them would anger you also. Don't lie.

Call me an asshole I don't care what you think. Watching everybody else get everything free and handed to them would anger you also. Don't lie.

reply to post by Mikeyy


i'm not calling you an asshole, but i will call you a liar. Start volunteering at a soup kitchen or a community center and tell me how people are taking advantage. i've been volunteering for over 35 years (longer than you've been alive) and the few and far inbetween who are taking advange of the system WE created as Americans for our fellow Americans are few and far inbetween. Seeing how you are still under 30yrs old i know i have paid way more than you in taxes, also i've done very well for myself in this country all because someone has worked for me or helped me along the way (local banks, parents, employers). No man is an island. There is nothing "free" in this life. This is a B.S. attitude created by the corporate fuedal syatem. So what if someone gets something other than yourself? Why do you care? Do you think if they got rid of social assistance programs you wouldn't be paying taxes? Taxes were instituted to help pay off the revolutionary war.

ya know what would probably make them feel even better!!!
give them decent paying jobs!!!!


we need to just hit the reset button and reprogram, this isn't working!!!
there are many people working 40 or more hours a week, and there isn't any affordable housing to be found, enough for food, oh, the electricity, oh, the car...oh........unless the person a supporting a larger than average family, there shouldn't be any reason why they should need help!!!
I've been searching the classifieds for months for a small apartment, any apartment, a small efficiency would do, most of them would take over half my income, and well, there was only one that I've seen that I would consider even trying.....but, oh, over on the higher end ......
how the heck can someone afford $2000-$3000 rent??? they'd have to be making over six thousand a month to be able to afford that!!!
hit the reset, reset the wages, reset the cost of housing, reset, the whole lot!!! bring everything back into some kind of balance!!!

Originally posted by trika3000
i just kinda skimmed through the responses after page one, so forgive me if this has been brought up already. Americans need to realize Food Stamps, S.S. and other gov. benefits have been paid for BY US already, when you pay purchase tax, pay income taxes, have money taken from your checks etc.
Workmans comp. is insurance, as is unemployment comp. that you pay for as you work, key word is insurance; you wouldn't hesitate for an insurance company to pay for your car in an accident or your health insurance to cover an illness.
The problem is that politicians have gutted and ripped off these funds, which are/were there for all of us to use when needed. Some folks for some reason (through bad press and propaganda) forget that this is what taxes and the gov. taking from paychecks is what this is supposed to be paying for.
Of course there are those trying to beat the system, but off of gov. handouts? Get real. Those using the system for their personal gain ain't gaining much from food stamps. Mostly crack heads selling food stamp cards to local hustlers (who tend to be doing all sorts of things illegal, least of which is buying up food cards).

We are now entering or have entered a corporate feudal state. These corporate kingdoms keep us as serfs, indentured servants and peons. And to get the smallest of us to stay in line they use the next up on the ladder to push the others down. (Look up "Capos" from the nazi concentration camps.) Even though those on the next rungs up will never make it to the top and will forever be on the ladder with everyone else. This was a tactic used not only in Nazi concentration camps but also in the deep south where it was used in mining (and other industry) with whites against blacks. They (TPTB) have been pulling things like this for a long long time. Where i live is rural and very poverty sticken (i'm retired so i'm not so affected), and almost everyone is on SS disability or foodstamps (or both). Where are the JOBS that the GOP promised they would bring if they were put back into office in 2010? Where is the change Obama said he'd bring? You see they are "playing" us for fools and as long as we look at each other as lazy or the crimminals, they are right.

And for my GOP friends who claim Christianity i leave you with this - Mat. 25:34 to Mat. 25:44
And to my heathen brothers - it doesn't matter does it

edit on 27-7-2011 by trika3000 because: (no reason given)

edit on 27-7-2011 by trika3000 because: (no reason given)

I don't believe the so called TPTB is beyond our reach and to make government work for us. What I do see is a lot of people falling for the bs that the TPTB keep feeding us via media and party political ideology and "the people" supporting it. If a rich person never having struggled tells the poor person what to do in times of crisis the alarm bells should be ringing!!!!! The real jaw dropper is when TPTB states a solution and is is blindingly obvious it benefits them and "the people" still support it........TPTB are few by number, "the people" are large by number. You would have thought one election should overturn the whole system. So the problem is not an elite in control but a mass of the population ALLOWING them to stay in control every 4 years in the US every 3-5 years over here in the UK.

reply to post by malcr


i agree, but even if we get rid of them every few years they seem to get replaced by the same old same old. i know locally for my town no one wanted to be mayor or the police chief. So those guys just got suckered into it.
Anyone beyond local community wants the money or whatever they can skim (personally i've known a few State Reps and Congressmen) and if the city is wealthy enough even local community is cashed in. Maybe it's just to hard to resist, i don't know as the offers have never been that great for me so i don't know what i'd do. But i know folks will kill for a pair of tennis shoes and or a bump or crack.

Not to mention Obama ran on the "Change" format and really isn't much different than anyone else. It will take a paradigm shift. But as long as they run on the same programs to keep us thinking there is a difference between them we will be trapped in the revolving door. Things do seem to progress in some areas, but in others they seem to get worse. The bubble/bubble burst scenario has been going on since the original black friday 1869 (Gould/Fisk), and the black tuesday fall in 1929 had the forefathers of todays market crisis (J.P.Morgan, Rockafeller, Chase). We've been trapped in this for over a hundred years (in America). Politicians are bottom feeders... and big money will always be there to feed them. Although the PTB would argue that things are getting better and the system works, equal rights have come along way, people eat better and have more stuff. But it reminds me of the bread and circuses of the Roman empire and we know what happened there (dark ages). So maybe we need another dark ages to have another renaissance. Also, the bad thing about a two term president if you happend to get someone in who is actually worthy they'll be replaced in 8 years. And the lifetime politicians merely have to keep their constituents happy and they remain in place (this is why here in the states some can get away with being racist and idiots). The people will believe the strangest things (especially if the education programs are underfunded).
Well i could rant forever...

We have been on food stamps for a year now. This is the first time in my & my husband's lives that we have ever utilized the program, and I'm grateful it's there. Our kids don't deserve to go hungry because of someone's stink eye at the check out, so I try to pay people little attention when I do get "looks". On many occasions, I've found myself catching someone's glare when they see how I'm paying, and feeling that conditioned burn of shame all the same. I really wish this stigma attached to food stamps would go away, it serves no purpose but to make recipients feel like crap for no good reason.

As far as what is purchased with food stamps is concerned, frankly, I'm all for banning the purchasing of manufactured/junk foods with EBT cards, it would do us a world of good to encourage cooking from scratch and eating fresh goods. However, I realize that is a slippery slope, to dictate what people can eat, especially not knowing what their kitchen consists of. For all I know, that mom paying for god knows how many cans of pop-top Chef Boyardee and ramen noodles might live in a motel room and have nothing other than a microwave to cook with. That is where I get iffy on the manufactured foods, because I did once upon a time call a motel home. I had no stove at my disposal, only a microwave. It's difficult to cook anything of substance in those things.
However, things like soda, cookies chips, candy and so forth? Those are things I don't believe should be purchased with food stamps at all. Those are not necessary food items, those are treats. I don't even buy these things with our EBT. The closest we come to junk food is organic granola bars, and those cost less than a same weight box of cookies. And my kids think those granola bars are candy bars. Who am I to argue?
I'm more than happy to load up the cart with fresh vegetables and fruits, lean meats, and even fresh fish when it's more affordable on the rare occasion. Just because our food is paid for through food stamps is no excuse for us to not eat healthy. Granted, it is a little more expensive, but it's well-worth it. The occasional evil eye at the check-out, though, that still smarts regardless

reply to post by hadriana


hadriana, I bow to you. I thought I was doing fairly well with my shopping budget, but I had completely overlooked this benefit. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, this can be helpful to anyone who will take the time to do it. BT

Originally posted by windword
When I was a young mother, newly on my own, in a new town, I was able to get foodstamps. It took a long time for them to set everything up, so, when I finally did get my foodstamps, it was a retroactive amount of 4 months.

We went shopping and stocked up on everything. Beans, rice, mayonaise and mustard, hamburger, tuna, etc. But, for that night, we were eating steak!

The cashier actually stopped ringing me up and yelled at me for buying high end meat, enough for 1 meal for 2! She called the manager over, holding up the line, saying she refused to ring up such &$%#@!

That was 30 years ago.

How awful for you!!!
Hope you were still able to enjoy your steak in spite of her nastiness!
Sad that theres so many miserable people in the service industry- makes you appreciate the good ones

i know in Illinois and Missouri what products that can be purchased with food stamps and/or the WIC program is limited. Too bad 6 bags of chips can still be purchased. But do you want to keep chips away from someone because someone else buys too many? That's a matter of education and relativity.
There are many of things that seem to accompany "poor" people such as, undereducation and "poor" parenting. All of this is conditioning (even the word "poor" has a conditioned response ie: poor grades, poor workmanship, poor service etc.).
Millions have relied on the system when things have gone wrong.
Before we can blame anybody for being "poor" we need to understand the circumstances. People who get caught abusing the system are forced to pay back and/or get rejected, also courts will intervine if necessary and make folks go to classes about money and healthy living. Geeze do you really think the PTB are letting anyone get away with anything? They arrest and shoot people for no reason.

No one should ever be made to feel bad for not having as much stuff and/or money as the next guy. Anyone who makes people feel this way merely think they themselves deserve more than others and haven't accomplished themselves enough to be self-satisfied. Anyone lucky enough to succeed is simply lucky, right place right time, hey i didn't get hit by a car on the way to making my money. (yes, i am one of the lucky)

If someone gets something for nothing why would anyone else complain about it? Everybody likes something for nothing. And "poor" people ain't livin' large (even with their chips and soda pop). And nobody is stealing your hard earned money except the misplacement of your tax dollars being fed into poorly drawn up ideas or blatant political BS. Do you really think a government agency is taking from you to give to the poor just to give some other guy your money? Anywhere there is a way they are taking for themselves before any of it gets into the hands of the "dumb & lazy".

Poverty in America drifts from the mentally unstable homeless to the folks who just hit a bump in the road. Unless we ask them or they tell us we have no way of knowing anyone's circumstances or why they do what they do.

Even the lazy are lazy for a reason. And the dumb are dumb for a reason. We have to ask ourselves why would someone choose a certain way to live?
Obviously, Donald Trump didn't work for his money, nor did Jay Rockafeller or anyone else who is extremely wealthy. They either inherited it or were businesspeople who relied on their workers (some of whom were underpaid).

America was originally built on slave labor and indentured servitude (Africans, Chinese, Irish to name a few). America is now a very wealthy country (contrary to what the MSM and PTB tell you). Don't you see they want to create this idea that America is going broke? Then turn us against the "lesser" amongst us.

Reasons for being "lazy" drift from poor health, to depression, to other mental problems.
Do you think someone lives with any form of social stigma because they want to? Even if you answered, because they just don't care, ask why would that be? Who just doesn't care? That's not a normal human characteristic. So are we now then saying the non-normal people?

Reasons for being too "dumb" to make any money is almost the same as above.

Come on use your empathy and your head. The globo-narco-corpo-military industrial complex created everything. We all know this, every thread on ATS is how the PTB run everything. You don't think they are creating this "downturn" also? You don't think they created the "poor", who else will scrub floors and toilets?

Google "Black Friday 1869" and "Black Tuesday 1929" - then look up Medill Paterson, Pulitzer, Hearst and yellow journalism.

Before we talk trash about those lesser than us we should look to the top, who feel the same way about us as we do the lesser

reply to post by trika3000


"There are many of things that seem to accompany "poor" people such as, undereducation and "poor" parenting. All of this is conditioning (even the word "poor" has a conditioned response ie: poor grades, poor workmanship, poor service etc.). "

I teach special needs kids - they almost always come from poor and ill-educated parents. The deck is stacked against those kids and you know darn well they will start spitting out kids at 16 and the cycle will repeat. One thing I've noticed from being in the schools is that there will always be about 10% of the population which can not or will not be able to take care of themselves. I don't care how much help benevolent people/governments give them, it will not get them back on their feet. It's a permanent underclass filled with low-functioning people, drug addicts, and such. Then we have an economy which sinks and more and more average Joes also need help, let alone those who suffer health problems. It's very disheartening.

Years ago, family members and neighbors took care of each other. They had large gardens and canned produce to last the year, raised bees for their sugar, sewed their own clothes and used the scraps for pieced blankets. When mom (if she had a job) and dad worked, grandma and grandpa took care of the kids. Now Junior lives 1/2 way across the nation from grammy and both he and the wife work and they have no family support so they have huge bills for their home, childcare, and cars. They live from paycheck to paycheck and if one loses a job, they go under. People today are mostly helpless - they can type on a computer, talk on the phone, and drive an automatic car. If the xxxx ever does hit the fan, they will be desperate.