I don't think this makes me a Welfare Queen, but with my Social Security at $520/month, I qualified for $88 in food stamps when I first applied in July, because I was in the local women's shelter and therefore showed no expenses at all. When I moved out and started paying $200/month to rent the living room couch (can't afford a room!), I figured my FS would go up. And it did: next month I'll get $89 on my card.
This happened:
When I first applied, at the end of my time with the social worker I was sent back out into the waiting room. Called up to a window, the same lady informed me that I did indeed qualify. Then she visibly braced herself.
This is why it was done at a window where there was a physical barrier. She was obviously prepared to be at least verbally assaulted, if not worse. When I smiled and said "Thank you. This is helpful" she dropped her jaw for just a quick moment, then smiled broadly and relaxed. Smiling back she replied, "You're welcome!"
It was apparent to me that what she expected to hear, and why she was separated from me by a wall with a rather small opening, would have been, "I can't live on $88 a month!" Screaming, begging, something that would show just how the client felt about not being able to feed her family. Years ago, as a single mom with three kids here, we got nearly $600/month and I most certainly fed everybody on that, and fed them well with healthy food mostly made from scratch. I planned our diet on what was on sale, shopped the mark-down meat and repackaged it and put it in the freezer. Bought flour and made bread. There was the ice cream once a week, and yummy baked desserts, fresh veggies and salads and chili made from dried beans and the meat from the freezer. It wasn't hard at all to live like that. Then I finally won a ten-year paternity suit and got some child support income and the amount was cut in half.
But those days are over. The name was changed and it's now SUPPLEMENTAL and not designed to buy all the food any more. And for people who don't shop and cook like I do, it was never enough anyway.
Everybody's food stamps are going down in October. This is a result of the sequester and budget cuts here in Arizona. It's a shame. But mine are going UP a dollar!
I am forced to spend some cash on food right now, at the end of the month, but I spent my supplement on meat (still have plenty in the freezer) and general supplies for baking: organic sugar, vanilla, things that aren't cheap. But I've still got it and am using it sparingly.
I am appreciative of the little help I'm able to get. Perhaps that's the key issue here.